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But I'll remember thee, dear Ncyes, 
And a' that thou hast done for me. 

■ — William Robertson Smith. 



^•t^e ^o^anio Cardan, 

HISTORY 



CHARLES THE TWELFTH, 



KING OF SWEDEN. 



PROM THE FRENCH OF VOLTAIRE, ^^-«. 

BY SMOLLETT. 



'' CK.\i>-ii^ 



NEW- YORK: 

LEAVITT & COMPANY, 

181 BROADWAY. 

1851. 






lUv 



CHARLES XII. 



BOOK I. 



An abridgment of the History of Sweden, to the reign of 
Charles XII. The education of that prince, and au ac- 
count of his enemies. Character of the Czar Peter 
Alexiowitz. Curions anecdotes relative to that prince 
and the Russian nation. Muscovy, Poland, and Den- 
mark, unite against Charles XII. 

CWEDEN and Finland made up a kingdom 
two hundred leagues broad, and three hun- 
dred long. This country reaches from the fifty- 
fifth degree of latitude, or thereabouts, to the 
seventieth. It lies under a very severe climate, 
which is hardly ever softened either by the re- 
turn of spring or of autumn. The winter prevails 
there nine months in the year. The scorching 
heats of the summer succeed immediately to the 
excessive cold of the winter. The frost begins 
in the month of October, without any of those 
imperceptible gradations, which in other coun- 
tries usher in the seasons, and render the altera- 
tion more agreeable. Nature, in return, hath 
given to this cold climate a clear sky, and a pure 
air. The almost constant heat of the summer 
produces flowers and fruits in a very short time. 
The long nights of the winter are tempered by 
the evening and morning twilights, which last 
for a greater or a less time, in proportion as the 
sun is nearer to, or farther removed from Swg. 
den; and the light of the moon, unobscured by 
clouds, and increased by the reflection of the 
snow that covers the ground, and frequently by 
the Aurora Borealis, makes it as convenient to 



4 HISTORY OF 

travel in Sweden by night as by day. For want 
of pasture, the cattle there are smaller than in 
the more southern parts of Europe ; but the meu 
are of a large stature, healthful fron;i the purity 
of the air, and strong from the severity of the 
climate ; they live to a great age, unless en- 
feebled by the immoderate use of wines and 
strong liquors, of which the northern nations 
seem to be the more fond, the less nature hath 
indulged them with these commodities. 

The Swedes are well made, strong, and ac- 
tive, and capable of enduring the greatest fa- 
tigue, want, and hunger. Born with a military 
genius, and high spirit, they are more brave than 
industrious, having long neglected, and even at 
present but little cultivating the arts of com- 
merce, which alone can supply them with those 
productions in which their country is deficient. 
It was chiefly from Sweden,* they say (one part 
of which is still called Gothland), that those 
swarms of Goths issued forth, who like a de- 
luge over-ran Europe, and wrested it from tlie 
Romans, who had usurped the dominion of that 
vast country, which they continued for the space 
of five hundred years to harass by their tyranny, 
and to civilize by their laws. 

The northern countries were much more po- 
pulous at that time than they are at present. 
Religion, by allowing the men a plurality of 

* If our author had reflected with his usual precision, 
he would have perceived that a cold barren country of the 
extent of Sweden, could not possibly furnish one hun- 
dredth part of those multitudes that deluged all Europe; 
and a little inquiry would have given him to understand, 
that the Goths themselves came from Scytbia or Tar(ary, 
which was called the Officina Gentium. It is now gene- 
rally allowed, that ibe Celtae, the Goths, the Heruli, Van- 
dals, and Huns, were all originally Tartars. 



CHARLES XIL 5 

wives, gave them an opportunity of furnishing the 
state with more subjects. The women themselves 
knew no reproach but that of sterility or idleness; 
and being as strong and as laborious as the men, 
they bore children faster and for a longer time. 
Sweden, however, with that part of Finland which 
it still retains, does not con tain aoove four millions 
of inhabitants. The soil is poor and barren ; Scho- 
nen is the only province that bears wheat. The 
current coin of the kingdom does not exceed nine 
millions of livres. The public bank, which is the 
oldest in Europe, was at first established from 
mere necessity ; the copper and iron, in which 
their payments were formerly made, being too 
heavy to be transported. 

Sweden preserved its freedom without inter- 
ruption to the middle of the fourteenth century. 
During that long period, the form of government 
was more than once altered ; but all these altera- 
tions were in favourof liberty. The first magis- 
trate was invested with the name of king, a title 
which in different countries is attended with very 
different degrees of power. In France and Spain 
it signifies an absolute monarch : in Poland, 
Sweden, and England, it means the first man of 
the republic. This king could do nothing with- 
out the senate ; and the senate depended upon 
the states-general, which were frequently assem- 
bled. The representatives of the nation, in these 
grand assemblies, were the gentry, the bishops, 
and the deputies of the towns ; and in process of 
time, the very peasants, a class of people unjustly 
despised in other places, and subject to slavery 
in almost all the northern countries, were ad- 
mitted to a share in the administration. 

About the year 1492, this nation so jealous of 
its liberty, and which still piques itself on hav- 
ing conquered Rome about thirteen hundred years 



6 HISTORY OF 

ago, was subjected to the yoke by a woman, and 
by a people less powerful than the Swedes. 

Margaret of Valdemar, the Semirainis of the 
North, and queen of Denmark and Norway, sub- 
dued Sweden by force and stratagem, and united 
these three extensive kingdoms into one mighty 
monarchy. After her death, Sweden was rent 
by civil wars ; it alternately threw off and sub- 
mitted to the Danish yoke ; was sometimes go- 
verned by kings, and sometimes by administra- 
tors. About the year 1520, this unhappy kingdom 
was horribly harassed by two tyrants : the one 
was Christian II. king of Denmark, a monster 
whose character was entirely composed of vices 
without the least ingredient of virtue : the other 
an archbishop of Upsal, and primate of the king- 
dom, as barbarous as the former. These two, 
by mutual agreement, caused the consuls and the 
magistrates of Stockholm, together with ninety- 
four senators, to be seized in one day, and to be 
executed by the hand of the common hangman, 
under the frivolous pretence that they were ex- 
communicated by the pope, for having dared to 
defend the rights of the state against the encroach- 
ments of the archbishop. 

While these two men, unanimous in their op- 
pressive measures, and disagreeing only about 
the division of the spoil, domineered over Sweden 
with all the tyranny of the most absolute despo- 
tism, and all the cruelty of the most implacable 
revenge, a new and unexpected event gave a 
sudden turn to the state of affairs in the North. 

Gustavus Vasa, a young man, sprung from the 
ancient kings of Sweden, arose from the forests 
of Dalecarlia, where he had long lain concealed, 
and came to deliver his country from bondage. 
He was one of those great souls whom nature so 
seldom produces, and who are bora with all the 



CHARLES XII. 7 

qualifications necessary to form the accomplished 
monarch. His handsome and stately person, and 
his noble and majestic air, gained him follcyers 
at first sight. His eloquence, recommended by 
an engaging manner, was the more persuasive, 
the less it was artful. His enterprising genius 
formed for those projects which, though to the 
vulgar they may appear rash, are considered only 
as bold in the eyes of great men, and which his 
courage and perseverance enabled him to accom- 
plish. Brave with circumspection, and mild and 
gentle in a fierce and cruel age, he was as vir- 
tuous as it is possible for the leader of a party 
to be. 

Gusta^us Vasahad been the hostage of Chris- 
tian, and had been detained a prisoner contrary 
to the law of nations. Having found means to 
escape from prison, he had dressed himself in 
the habit of a peasant, and in that disguise had 
wandered about in the mountains and woods of 
Dalecarlia, where he was reduced to the neces- 
sity of working in the copper mines, at once to 
procure a livelihood, and to conceal himself from 
his enemies. Buried as he was in these subter- 
raneous caverns, he had the boldness to form the 
design of dethroning the tyrant. With tliis view 
he discovered himself to the peasants, who re- 
garded him as one of those superior beings, to 
whom the common herd of mankind are natu- 
rally inclined to submit. These savage boors he 
soon improved into hardy and warlike soldiers. 
He attacked Christian and the archbishop, beat 
them in several encounters, banislied them both 
from Sweden, and at last was justly chosen by 
the states king of that country, of which he had 
been the deliverer. '- 

Hardly v/as he established on the throne, when 
he undertook an enterprize still more diiticult 



8 HISTORY OF 

than his conquests. The real tyrants of the state 
were the bishops, who having engrossed into 
their own hands almost all the riches of Sweden, 
employed their ill- got wealth in oppressing the 
subjects, and in making war upon the king. This 
power was the more formidable as, in the opinion 
of the ignorant populace, it was held to be sa- 
cred. Gustavus punished the catholic religion 
for the crimes of its ministers ; and, in less than 
two years, introduced Lutheranism into Sweden, 
rather by the arts of policy, than by the influence 
of authority. Having thus conquered the king- 
dom, as himself was wont to say, from the Danes 
and the clergy, he reigned a happy and absolute 
monarch to the age of seventy, and then died full 
of glory, leaving his family and religion in quiet 
possession of the throne. 

One of his descendants was that Gustavus 
Adolphus who is commonly called the great Gus- 
trivus. He conquered Ingria, Livonia, Bremen, 
Verden, VVismar, and Pomerania, not to men- 
tion above an hundred places in Germany, which, 
after his death, were yielded up by the Swedes. 
He shook the throne of Ferdinand II. and pro- 
tected the Lutherans in Germany, an attempt in 
which he was secretly assisted by the pope him- 
self, who dreaded the power of the emperor 
much more than the prevalence of heresy. He 
it was that by his victories effectually contributed 
to humble the house of Austria ; though the glory 
of that enterprise is usually ascribed to cardinal 
de Richelieu, who well knew how to procure 
himself the repu-tation of those great actions, 
which Gustavus was contented with simply per- 
forming. He was just upon the point of ex- 
tending the war beyond the* Danube, and per- 
haps of dethroning the emperor, when he was 
killed, in the thirty-seventh year of his age, at 



CHARLES XII. 9 

the battle of Lutzen, -which lie gained over Wal- 
Stein, carrying along with him to his grave the 
name of Great, the lamentations of the North, 
and the esteem of his enemies. 

His daughter, Christina, a lady of an extraor- 
dinary genius, was much fonder of conversing 
with men of learning, than of reigning over a 
people, whose knowledge was entirely confined 
to the art of war. She became as famous for 
quitting the throne as her ancestors had been for 
obtaining or securing it. The protesiants have 
loaded her memory with many injurious asper- 
sions, as if it were impossible for a person to be 
possessed of great virtues without adhering to 
Luther, and the papists have piqued themselves 
too much on the conversion of a woman, who 
had nothing to recommend her but her taste for 
philopo])hy. She retired to Kome, where she 
passed the rest of her days in the midst of those 
arts of which she was so passionately fond, and 
for the sake cf which she had renounced a crown 
at twenty-seven 3'ears of age. 

Before her abdication, she prevailed upon the 
states of Sweden to elect her cousin, Charles 
Gustavus X. son to the count Palatine, and duke 
of Deux- Fonts, as her successor. This prince 
added new conquests to those of Gustavus Adol- 
phus. He presently carried his arms into Ice- 
land, where he gained the famous battle of War- 
saw, which lasted for three days. He waged a 
long and a successful war with the Danes ; be- 
sieged them in their capital ; re-united Schonen 
to Sweden ; and confirmed the Duke of Holstein 
in the possession of Sleswick, at least for a time. 
At last, having met with a reverse of fortune, 
and concluded a peace with his enemies, he 
turned his ambition against his subjects, and 
formed the design of establishing a despotic go- 
A2 



10 HISTORY OF 

vernment in Sweden. But, like the great Gus- 
tavus, he died in the thirty-seventh year of his 
age, without being able to finish his project, the 
full accomplishmtnt of which was reserved for 
his son, Charles XI. 

Charles XI. was a warrior, like all his ances- 
tors, and more despotic than any of them. He 
abolished the authority of the senate, which was 
declared to be the senate of the king, and not of 
the kingdom. He was prudent, vigilant, inde- 
fatigable ; qualities that must certainly have se- 
cured him the love of his subjects, had not his 
despotic measures been more apt to excite their 
fear than to gain their aifections. 

In 1680 he married Ulrica Eleonora, daughter 
to Frederic III. king of Denmark, a princess emi- 
nent for her virtue, and worthy of greater con- 
fidence than her husband was pleased to repose 
in her. Of this marriage, on the ^7th of June, 
IGS'i, was born king Charles XII. the most ex- 
traordinary man perhaps that ever appeared ia 
the world. In him were united all the great 
qualities of his ancestors ; nor had he any other 
fault or failing, but that he possessed all these 
virtues in too high a degree. This is the prince 
whose history we now purpose to write, and con- 
cerning whose person and actions we shall relate 
nothing but what is vouched by the best autho- 

The first book which was put into his hands 
was PufFendorflTs introduction to the history of 
Europe, that from thence he might acquire an 
early knowledge of his own dominions, and those 
of his neighbours. He next learned the German 
language, which he continued to speak for the 
future with the same fluency as his mother tongue. 
At seven years of age he could manage a horse; 
and the violent exercises in which he delighted, 



CHARLES XII. II 

and wHch discovered his martial disposition. 
Boon procured him a vigorous constitution, ca- 
pable to support the incredible fatigues which 
hia natural inclination always prompted him to 
undergo. 

Though gentle in his infancy, he betrayed an 
inflexible obstinacy. The only way to influence 
him was to awaken his sense of honour ; by men- 
tioning the word glory, you might have obtained 
any thing from him. He had a great aversion 
to the Latin tongue : but as soon as he heard 
that the kings of Poland and Denmark under- 
stood it, he learned it with great expedition, and 
retained so much of it, as to be able to speak it all 
the rest of his life. The same means were em- 
ployed to engage him to learn the French ; but 
he could never be persuaded to make use of that 
tongue, not even with the French ambassadors 
themselves, who understood no other. 

As soon as he had acquired a tolerable know- 
ledge of the Latin, his teacher made him trans- 
late Quintiis Curtius ; a book for which he con- 
ceived a great liking, rather on account of the 
subject than the style. The person who ex- 
plained this author to him having asked him what 
he thought of Alexander : ' I think,' said the 
prince, • I could wish to be like him.' — ' But,* 
resumed the preceptor, * he only lived two and 
thirty years.' — ' Ah !' replied he, • and is not 
that enough, when one has conquered kingdoms?' 
The courtiers did not fail to carry these answers 
to the king his father, who would often cry out, 
• This child will excel me, ana will even go be- 
yond the great Gustavus.' One day he happened 
to be diverting himself in the royal apartment, 
in viewing two plans ; the one of a town in Hun- 
gary, which the Turks had taken from the empe- 
ror J the other of Riga, the capital of Livonia, a 



12 HISTORY OF 

province conquered by tbe Swedes about a cen- 
tury before. Under the plan of the town in 
Hungary were written these words, taken from 
the book of Job : ' The Lord hath given it to 
me, and the Lord hath taken it fr; m me ; blessed 
be the name of the Lord.' The young prince 
having read this inscription, immediately took a 
pencil, and wrote under the plan of Higa ; ' 'Ihe 
Lord hath given it to me, and the devil shall not 
take it from me.'* Thus, in the most indifferent 
actions of his childhood, his unconquerable spi- 
rit would frequently discover some traces of those 
heroic qualities which characterize great souls, 
and which plainly indicated what sort of a man 
he would one day prove. 

He was but eleven years of age when he lost 
his mother, who expired on the fifth of August, 
1693. 3"he disease of which she died was sup- 
posed to be owing to the bad usage she had re- 
ceived from her husband, and to lier own endea- 
vours to conceal her vexation. Charles XI. had, 
by means of a certain court of justice, which was 
called the Chamber of Liquidations, and erected 
by his sole authority, deprived a great number 
of his subjects of their wealth. Crowds of citi- 
zens ruined by this chamber, nobility, merchants, 
farmers widows, and orphans, filled the streets 
of Stockholm, and dailj' repaired to the gate of 
the palace to pour forth their unavailing com- 
plaints. The queen succoured these unhappy- 
people as much as lay in her power ; she gave 
them her money, her jewels, her furniture, and 
even her clothes : and when she had no more to 
give them, with tears in her eyes she threw her- 
self at her husband's feet, beseeching him to 
have pity on his wretched subjects. The king 
• This anecdote I give from the information of two 
French ambassadors, who resided at the court of Sweden. 



CHARLES XII. 13 

gravely answered her, ' Madam, we took you to 
bring us children, not to give us advice.' And 
from that time he treated her with a severity 
that is said to have shortened her days. 

He died four years after her, on the fifteenth 
of April, 1697, in the forty second year of his 
age, and the thirty-seventh of his reign, at a time 
when the empire, Spain, and Holland, on the one 
side, and France on the other, had referred the 
decision of their quarrels to his arbitration, and 
when he had already concerted the terms of ac- 
commodation between these different powers. 

He left to his son, who was then fifteen years 
of age, a throne well established and respected 
abroad ; subjects poor, but valiant, and loyal ; 
together with a treasury in good order, and ma- 
naged by able ministers. 

Charles XII. at his accession to the throne 
found himself the absolute and undisturbed mas- 
ter, not only of Sweden and Finland, but also of 
Livonia, Carelia, Ingria, Wismar, Vibourg, tho 
islands of Hugen, and Oesel, and the finest part 
of Pomerania, together with the duchy of Bremen 
and Verden, all of them the conquests of his an- 
cestors, secured to the crown by long j^ossession^ 
and by the solemn treaties of Munster and Oliva, 
and supported by the terror of the Swedish arms. 
The peace of Ryswick, which was begun under 
the auspices of the father, being fully concluded 
under those of the son, he found himself the me- 
diator of Europe, from the first moment of hia 
reign. 

The laws of Sweden fix the majority of their 
kings at the age of fifteen ; but Charles XI. who 
was entirely absolute, put off, by his last will, 
the majority of his son to the age of eighteen. In 
this he favoured the ambitious views of his mo- 
ther Eduiga Eleonora of Holsteiuj dowager of 



14 HISTORY OF 

Charles X. who was appointed by the king har 
son, guardian to the young king her grandson, 
and regent of the kingdom, in conjunction with a 
council of five persons. 

The regent had had a share in the manage- 
ment of public affairs during the reign of her son. 
She was now advanced in years ; but her am- 
bition, which was greater than her abilities, 
prompted her to entertain the pleasing hopes of 
possessing authority for a long time, under the 
king her grandson. She kept him at as great a 
distance as possible from all concern with the 
affairs of state. The young prince passed his 
time either in hunting or in reviewing his troops, 
and would even sometimes exercise with them; 
which amusement seemed only to be the natural 
effect of his youthful vivacity. He never betrayed 
any dissatisfaction sufficient to alarm the regent, 
who flattered herself that the dissipation of mind 
occasioned by these diversions would render him 
incapable of application, and leave her in posses- 
sion of the supreme power for a considerable time. 

One day in the month of November, and in the 
same year in which his father died, when l.e had 
been taking a review of several regiments, and 
Piper the counsellor was standing by him, he 
seemed to be absorbed in a profound reverie. 
* May I take the liberty,' said Piper to him, ' of 
asking your majesty what you are thinking of so 
seriously Y — * I am thinking,' replied the prince, 
^ that I am capable of commanding those brave 
fellows ; and I don't choose that either they or I 
should receive orders from a woman.' Piper 
immediately seized this opportunity of making 
his fortune ; but conscious that his own interest 
was not fcufficientfor the execution of such a dan- 
gerous enterprise, as the removal of the queen from 
•the regency, and the hastening of the king's ma- 



CHARLES XII. 15 

jority, he proposed the affair to count Axel Sparre, 
a man of a daring- spirit, and fond of popularity. 
Him he cajoled with the hopes of being the king's 
confidant. The count readily swallowed the bait, 
and undertook the management of the whole 
matter, while all his labours only tended to pro- 
mote the interest of Piper. The counsellors of 
the regency were soon drawn into the scheme, 
and forthwith proceeded to the execution of it, 
in order to recommend themselves the more ef- 
fectually to the king. 

1 hey went in a body to propose it to the queen, 
who little expected such a declaration. The 
counsellors of the fegency laid the matter before 
the states-general, who were then assembled, 
and who were all unanimous in approving the 
proposal. The point was carried with a rapidity 
that nothing could withstand ; so that Charies 
XII. had only to signify his desire of reigning, 
and, in three days, the states bestowed the go- 
vernment upon him. The queen's power and 
credit fell in an instant. She afterwards led a 
private life, which was more suitable to her age, 
though less agreeable to her humour. The king 
was crowned on the twenty-fourth of December 
following. He made his entry into Stockholm 
on a sorrel horse shod with silver, having a scep- 
tre in his hand and a crown upon his head, 
amidst the acclamations of a whole people, pas- 
sionately fond of every novelty, and always con- 
ceiving great hopes from the reign of a young 
prince. I'he ceremony of the consecration and 
coronation belongs to the archbishop of Upsal. 
This is almost the only privilege that remains 
to him of the great number that were claimed by 
his predecessors. After having anointed the 
prince, according to custom, he held the crowii 
in his hand, in order to put it upon his head : 



16 HISTORY OF 

Charles snatched it from him and crowned him- 
self, regarding the poor prelate all the while with 
a stern look. The people, who are always daz- 
zled by every thing that has an air of grandeur 
and magnificence, applauded this action of the 
king. Even those who had groaned most se- 
verely under the tyranny of the father, v/ere 
foolish enough to commend the son for this in- 
stance of arrogance, which was a sure pledge of 
their future slavery. 

As soon as Charles was master of the kingdom, 
he made Piper his chief confidant, entrusting him 
at the same time with the management of public 
affairs, and giving him all th8^ power of a prime 
minister, without the odium of the name. A few 
days after he created him a count, which is a 
dignity of great eminence in Sweden, and not an 
empty title that may be assumed without any 
manner of importance, as with us in France. 

The beginning of the king's reign gave no very 
favourable idea of his character. It was ima- 
gined that he had been more ambitious of obtain- 
ing the supreme power, than worthy of possessing 
it. True it is, he had no dangerous passion ; but 
his conduct discovered nothing but the sallies of 
youth, and the freaks of obstinacy. He seemed 
to be equally proud and lazy. The ambassadors, 
who resided at his court, took him even for a per- 
son of mean capacity, and represented him as 
such to their respective masters.* The Swedes 
entertained the same opinion of him : nobody 
knew his real character : he did not even know 
it himself, until the storm that suddenly arose in 
the North gave him an opportunity of displaying 
his great taljsnts, which had hitherto lain con- 
cealed. 

Three powerful princes, taking the advantage 
* This is confirmed by original letters. 



CHyVRLES Xir. 17 

of his youth, conspired his niin almost at the 
same time. The first was his own cousin, Fre- 
derick IV. king of Denmark : the second Au- 
gustus, Elector of Saxony and king of Poland: 
Peter the Great, czar of Muscovy, was the third, 
and the most dangerous. It will be necessary 
to unfold the origin of these wars, which pro- 
duced such great events : and to begin with 
Denmark. 

Of the two sisters of Charles Xfl. the eldest 
was married to the duke of Holstein, a young 
prince of an undaunted spirit, and of a gentle 
disposition. The duke, oppressed by the king of 
Denmark, repaired to Stockholm with his spouse, 
and throwing himself into the arms of the king, 
earnestly implored his assistance. This he hoped 
to obtain, as Charles was not only his brother- 
in-law, but was likewise the sovereign of a peo- 
ple who bore an irreconcilable hatred to the 
Danes. 

The ancient house of Holsteiu, sunk into that 
of Oldenhurgh, had been advanced by election to 
the throne of Denmark in 1449. All the kingdoms 
of the North were at that time elective ; but the 
kingdom of Denmark soon after became heredi- 
tary. One of its kings, called Christiern III. had 
such a tender affection for his brother Adolphus, 
or, ai least, such a regard for his interest, as is sel- 
dom to be met with among princes, lie was de- 
sirous of investing him with sovereign power, 
and yet he could not dismember his own domi- 
nions. He therefore divided with him the 
duchies of Holstein- Gottor)) and Sleswick, bv an 
odd kind of agreement, the substance of which 
was, that the descendants of Adolphus should 
ever after govern Holstein in conjunctici with 
the kings of Denmark ; that those two duchies 
should belong to both in common : and that the 



18 HISTORY OF 

king- of Denmark sliould be able to do notlnngin 
Holsteiu without tlie duke, nor the dnke without, 
the king. So strange an union, of v/hich, how- 
ever, we have had within these few years a simi- 
lar instance of the same family, was, for near the 
space of eighty years, the source of perpstual 
disputes between the crown of Denmark and the 
house of flolstein-Gottorp ; the kings always en- 
deavouring to oppress the dukes, and the dukes 
to render themselves independent. A struggle 
of this nature had cost the last duke his liberty 
and sovereignty, both which, however, he reco- 
vered at the conferences of Altena in 1689, by 
the interposition of Sweden, England, and Hol- 
land, who became guarantees for the executiot 
of the treaty. But as a treaty between princes 
is frequently no more than a giving way to ne- 
cessity", till such time as the stronger shall be 
able to crash the weaker, the contest was revived 
with greater virulence than ever between the new 
king of Denmark and the young duke. And 
while the duke was at Stockholm, the Danes had 
already committed some acts of hostility in the 
country of Holstein, and had entered into a se- 
cret agreement with the king of Poland, to at- 
tack the king of Sweden himself. 

Frederick Augustus, elector of Saxony, whom 
neither the elocjuence nor negotiations* of the 
abbe de Polignac, nor ttie great qualities of the 
prince of Conti, his competitor for the throne, 
had been able to prevent from being chosen king 
of Poland about two years before, was a prince 
still less remarkable for his incredible strength of 
body than for his bravery and gallantry of soul. 
His court, next to that of Lewis XIV. was the 
most splendid of any in Europe. Never was 
prince more generous or munificent, or bestowed 
his favours with a better grace. He had pur- 



CHARLES XII. 19 

chased the votes of one half of the Polish no- 
bility, and overawed the other by the approach 
of a Saxon army. As he thought he should have 
need of his troops in order to establish himself 
the more firmly on the throne, he wanted a pre- 
text for retaining them in Poland ; and he there- 
fore resolved to employ them in attacking the 
king of Sweden, which he did on the following 
occasion. 

Livonia, the most beautiful and the most fruit- 
ful province of the North, belonged formerly to 
the knights of the Teutonic order. The Russians, 
the Poles, and the Swedes, had severally dis- 
puted the possession of it. The Swedes had 
carried it from all the rest about a hundred years 
ago ; and it had been formally ceded to them by 
the peace of Oliva. 

The late king Charles XI. amidst his severities 
to his subjects in general, had not spared the Li- 
vonians. He had stripped them of their privi- 
leges, and of part of their estates. Patkul, who 
unhappily hath since become famous for his tra- 
gical death, was deputed by the nobiliiy of Livo- 
nia to carry to the throne the complaints of the 
province. He addressed his master in a speech, 
respectful indeed, but bold, and full of that manly 
eloquence, which calamity, when joined to cou- 
rage, never fail to inspire. But kings too fre- 
quently consider these public addresses as no 
more than vain ceremonies, which it is custo- 
mary to suffer, without paying them any regard. 
■ Charles XI. however, who could play r.he hypo- 
crite extremely well, when he was not hurried 
away by the violence of his passion, gently struck 
Patkul on the shoulder : • You have spoke for 
your country,' said he, ' like a brave man, and I 
esteem you for it : go on.' Notwithstanding, in 
a few days after, he caused him to be declared 



20 HISTORY OF 

guilty of high treason, and as such to be con- 
demned to death. Patkul, who had hid himself, 
made his escape, and carried his resentment with 
him to Poland, where he was afterwards admit- 
ted into the presence of King Augustus. Charles 
XI. was now dead ; but Patkul's sentence was 
still in force, and his indignation still unabated. 
He represented to his Polish majesty the facility 
of conquering Livonia, the people of which were 
mad with despair, and ready to throw off the 
Swedish yoke ; while the king was a child, and 
unable to make any resistance. 'J'hese represen- 
tations were well received by a prince, who al- 
ready flattered himself with the agreeable hopes 
of this important conquest. Augustus had en- 
gaged at his coronation to exert his most vigo- 
rous efforts, in order to recover the provinces 
which Poland had lost ; and he imagined, that, 
by making an irruption into Livonia, he should 
at once please the people and establish his own 
power ; in both which particulars, however pro- 
mising of success, he at last found himself fa- 
tally disappointed. Every thing was soon got 
ready for a sudden invasion, which he resolved to 
make without having recourse to the vain for- 
malities of declarations of war and manifestoes. 
The storm thickened at the same time on the 
side of Muscovy. The monarch who governed 
that kingdom merits the attention of posterity. 

Peter Aiexiowitz, czar of Russia, had already 
made himself formidable by the battle he had 
gained over the Turks in 1697, and by the reduc- 
tion of Asoph, which opened to him the domi- 
nion of the Black Sea. But it was by actions 
still more glorious than even his victories, that 
he aspired to the name of Great. Muscovy, or 
Russia, comprehends the northern parts of Asia 
and of Europe, and from the frontiers of China 



CHARLES XII. 21 

extends, for the space of fifteen hundred leagues, 
to the borders of Poland and Sweden. I his im- 
mense country, however, was hardly known to 
Europe, before the time of the czar Peter. The 
Muscovites were less civilized than the Mexi- 
cans, when discovered by Cortez : born the slaves 
of masters as barbarous as themselves, they were 
sunk into a state of the most profound ignorance, 
into a total want of all the arts and sciences, and 
into such an insensibility of that want, as effec- 
tually suppressed every exertion of industry. An 
ancient law, which they held to be sacred, forbade 
them, under pain of death, to leave iheir native 
country without permission of their patriarch. 
This law, made with a view to preclude them 
from all opportunities of becoming sensible of 
their slavery, was very acceptable to a people, 
who, in the depth of their misery and ignorance, 
disdained all commerce with foreign nations. 

The era of the Muscovites began at the crea- 
tion of the world : they reckoned up 7'5i07 years to 
the beginning of the last century, without being 
able to assign any reason for this computation. 
The first d.ay of their year answered to the thir- 
teenth of our month of November. The reason 
they allege for this regulation is, that it is pro- 
bable that God created the world in autumn, the 
season when the fruits of the earth are in their 
full maturity. Thus, the only appearances of 
knowledge which they had were founded upon 
gross errors ; not one of them ever dreamed that 
the autumn of Muscovy might possibly be the 
spring of another country, situated in an oppo- 
site climate. Nor is it long since the people at 
Moscow were going to burn the secretary of a 
Persian ambassador, who had foretold an eclipse 
of the sun. They did not so much as know the 
use of figures ; but in all their computations made 



22 HISTORY OF 

use of little beads strung upon brass wires. They 
had no other manner of reckoning in their compt- 
ing-houses, not even in the treasury of the czar. 

Their religion was, and still is, that of the 
Greek church, intermixed with many supersti- 
tious rites, to which they are the more strongly 
attached, in proportion as they are the more ri- 
diculous, and their burden the more intolerable. 
Few Muscovites would venture to eat a pigeon, 
because the Holy Ghost is painted in the form 
of a dove. They regularly observed four lents iu 
the year ; and during those times of abstinence, 
they never presumed to eat either eggs or milk. 
God and St. Nicholas were the objects of their 
worship, and next to them the czar and the pa- 
triarch. 

The authority of the last was as unbounded as 
the people's ignorance. He pronounced sen- 
tences of death, and inflicted the most cruel 
punishments without any possibility of an appeal 
from his tribunal. Twice a year he made a so- 
lemn procession on horseback, attended by all his 
clergy in order. The czar on foot held the bri- 
dle of his horsp and the people prostrated them- 
selves before mm in the streets, as the Tartars 
do before their grand lama. Confession was in 
use among them ; but it was only in cases of 
the greatest crimes. In these absolution was 
necessary, but not repentance. '1 hey thought 
themselves pure in the sight of God, as soon 
as they received the benediction of their pa- 
pas. Thus they passed, without remorse, from 
confession to theft and murder; and what among 
other Christians is a restraint from vice, with 
them was an encouragement to wickedness. Oa 
a fast day, thej would not even venture to drink 
milk ; but on a festival, masters of families, 
priests, married women and maids, viould make 



CHARLES Xir. 23 

no scruple to intoxicate themselves with brandy. 
However, there were religious disputes araong 
them as well as in other countries ; but their 
greatest controversy was, whether lay-men 
should make the sign of the cross with two fin- 
gers or with three. One Jacob NursofF, in the 
preceding reign, had raised a sedition in Astra- 
can about this very quarrel. There were even 
some fanatics among them, as there are in those 
civilized nations where every one is a theologian ; 
and Peter, who always carried justice to the ex- 
treme of cruelty, caused some of these wretched 
creatures, who were called Vosko-jesuits to be 
committed to the flames. 

The czar, in his vast dominions, had many 
other subjects who were not Christians. The 
Tartars, inhabiting the western coasts of the 
Caspian Sea and the Palus Masotis, were Maho- 
metans ; the Siberians, the Ostiacks, and the Sa- 
moides, who lie towards the Frozen Sea, were sa- 
vages, some of whom were idolaters, and others 
had not the least knowledge of a God ; and yet 
the Swedes who were sent prisoners among them, 
were better pleased with their manners than 
with those of the ancient Muscovites. 

Peter Alexiowitz had received an education 
that tended still more to increase the barbarity 
of this part of the world. His natural disposi- 
tion led him to caress strangers, before he know 
what advantages he might derive from their ac- 
quaintance. Le Fort, as Lath been already ob- 
served, was the first instrument he employed to 
change the face of affairs in Muscovy. His 
iitiigbty genius, which a barbarous education had 
hitherto checked, but not destroyed, broke forth 
all of a sudden. He resolved to be a man, to com- 
mand men, and to create a new nation. Many 
princes before him had renounced crowns, wearied 



24 HISTORY OF 

out with the intolerable load of public affairs ; 
but no man had ever divested himself of the royal 
character, in order to learn the art of governing 
better: this was a stretch of heroism which was 
reserved for Peter the Great alone. 

He left Muscovy ia 1698, having reigned as 
yet but two years, and went to Holland, disguised 
under a common name, as if he had been a me- 
nial servant of that same Mr. le Fort, whom he 
sent in quality of ambassador extraordinary to the 
states-general. As soon as he arrived at Am- 
sterdam, he enrolled his name among the ship- 
w^rights of the admiralty of the Indies, and 
wrouglit in tlie yard like the other mechanics. 
At his leisure hours he learned such parts of the 
mathematics as are useful to a prince, fortifica- 
tion, navigation, and the art of drawing plans. 
He went into the workmen's shops, and examined 
all their manufactures : nothing could escape his 
observaii(;n. From thence he passed over into 
England, where having perfected himself in the 
art of shipbuilding, he returned to Holland, care- 
fully observing every thing that might turn to the 
advantage of his country. At last, after two 
j'ears of travel and labour, to which no man but 
himself would have willingly submitted, he agaia 
made his appearance in Muscovy, with all the 
arts of Europe in his train. Artists of every 
kind followed him in abundance. Then were 
seen, for the first time, large Russian ships ia 
the Baltic, and on the Black Sea and the ocean. 
Stately buildings, of a regular architecture, were 
raised among the Russian huts. He founded 
colleges, academies, printing-houses, and libra- 
ries. The cities were brought under a regular 
police. The clothes and customs of the people 
were gradua'lly changed, though not without some 
difficulty J and the Muscovites learned by degrees 



CHARLES XII. 25 

the true nature of a social state. Even their su- 
perstitious rites were abolished ; the dignity of 
the patriarch was suppressed ; and the czar de- 
clared himself the head of the church. This last 
enterprize, which would have cost a prince less 
absolute than Peter, both his throne and his life, 
succeeded almost without opposition, and insured 
to him the success of all his other innovations. 

After having humbled an ignorant and a bar- 
barous clergy, he ventured to make a trial of in- 
structing them, though by that means he ran a 
risk of rendering them formidable; but he was 
too conscious of Lis own power to entertain any 
apprehension from that quarter. He caused phi- 
losophy and theology to be taught in the few mo- 
nasteries that still remained. True it is, this 
theology still savours of that barbarous period in 
which Peter civilized his people. A gentleman 
of undoubted veracity assured me, that he was 
present at a public disputation, where the point 
of controversy was, whether the practice of smok- 
ing tobacco was a sinl The respondent alleged, 
that it was lawful to get drunk with brandy, but 
not to smoke, because the holy Scripture saith, 
' That that which proceedeth out of the mouth 
defileth a man, and that which entereth into it 
doth not defile him.' 

The monks were not satisfied with this refor- 
mation. Hardly had the czar erected his print- 
ing-houses, when these pious drones made use of 
them to publish declamations against their sove- 
reign. One of them affirmed in print that Peter 
was Antichrist; and his arguments were, that 
he deprived the living of their beards, and al- 
lowed the dead to be dissected in his academy. 
But ano-ther monk, who had a mind to make his 
fortune, refuted this book, and proved that Peter 
could not be Antichrist, because the number 666 
B 



f6 HISTORY OF 

was not to be found in his name. The libeller 
was broke upon the wheel, and the author of the 
refutation was made bishop of Rezan. 

The reformer of Muscovy enacted a very 
wholesome law, the want of which reflects dis- 
grace upon many civilized nations. By this law, 
no man engaged in the service of the state, no 
citizen established in trade, and especially no 
minor, was allowed to reiire into a convent. 

Peter knew of what inlinite consequence it was 
to prevent useful .subjects from consecrating them- 
selves to idleness, and to hinder young people 
from disposing of their liberty, at an age when 
they are incapable of disjiosin'g of the least part 
of their patrimony. This law, however, so 
plainly calculated for the general interest of man- 
kind, is daily eluded by the industry of the 
monks; as if they forsooth, were gainers by 
peopling their convents at the expense of their 
countRj. 

The czar not only subjected the church to the 
state, after the example of the Turkish emperors, 
but, what was a more masterly stroke of policy, 
he dissolved a militia of much the same nature 
with that of the janissaries : and what the sul- 
lans had attempted in vain, he accomplished in 
a short time : he disbanded the Russian janis- 
saries, who were called Strelitz, and who kept 
the czars in subjection. These troops, more for- 
midable to their masters thanto their neighbours, 
consisted of about thirty thousand foot, one half 
of which remained at Moscow, while the other 
was stationed upon the frontiers. The pay of a 
strelitz was no more than four rubles a year ; but 
this deficiency was amply compensated by privi- 
leges and extortions. .Peter at first formed a 
company of foreigners, among which he enrolled 
his own name, and did not think it below him. 



CHARLES XIL 27 

to begin the service in the character of a drum- 
mer, and to perform the duties of that mean 
oflBce ; so much did the nation stand in need of 
examples ! By degrees he became an officer. 
He gradually raised new regirrierts ; and at last, 
finding himself master of a well-disciplined army, 
he broke the strelitz, who durst not disobey. 

The cavalry were nearly the same with that of 
Poland, or France, when this last kingdom was 
no more than an assemblage of fiefs. The Rus- 
sizm gentlemen mounted horse at their own ex- 
pense, and fought without discipline, and some- 
times without any other arms than a sabre or a 
bow, incapable of obeying, and consequently of 
conquering. 

Peter the Great taught them to obey, both by 
the example he set them, and by the punishments 
he inflicted ; for he served in the quality of a sol- 
dier and subaltern officer, and as czar he severely 
punished the boyards, that is, the gentlemen, 
who pretended that it was the privilege of their 
order, not to serve but bj their own consent. He 
established a regular body to serve the artillery, 
and took five hundred bells from the churches to 
found cannon. In the year 1714 he had thirteen 
thousand brass cannon. He likewise formed some 
troops of dragoons, a kind of militia very suitable 
to the genius of the Muscovites, and to the size 
of their horses, which are small. In 1738 the 
Russians had thirty regiments of dragoons, con- 
sisting of a thousand men each, and well accou- 
tred. 

He likewise established the Russian hussars : 
and had even a school of engineers, in a country 
where, before his time, no one understood the ele- 
ments of geometry. 

He was himself a good engineer ; buthi? chief 
excellence lay in his knowledge of naval aifairs ; 



28 HISTORY OF 

be was an able sea-captain, a skilful pilot, a good 
sailor, an expert shipwright, and his knowledge 
of these arts was the more meritorious, as he was 
born with a great dread of the water. In his 
youth he could not pass over a bridge without 
trembling : on all these occasions he caused the 
wooden windows of his coach to be shut ; but of 
this constitutional weakness he soon got the bet- 
ter by his courage and resolution. * 

He caused a beautiful harbour to be built at 
the mouth of the Tanais, near Azoph, in which 
he proposed to keep a number of gallies ; and 
some time after, thinking that these vessels, so 
long, light, and flat, would probably succeed in 
the Baltic, he had upwards of three hundred of 
them built at his favourite city of Petersburg. 
He shewed his subjects the method of building 
ships with fir only, and taught them the art of na- 
vigation. He had even learned surgery, and, iu 
a case of necessity, has been known to tap a drop- 
sical person. He was well versed in mechanics, 
and instructed the artists. 

Indeed the revenue of the czar, when compared 
to the immense extent of his dominions, was very 
inconsiderable. It never amounted to four and 
twenty millions of our money, reckoning the mark 
at about fifty livres, as we do to-day, though per- 
haps we may do otherwise to-morrow. But a 
man may always be accounted rich, who has it in 
his power to accomplish great undertakings. It 
is not the scarcity of money that weakens a state : 
it is the want of hands, and of men of abilities. 

Russia, notwithstanding the women are fruit- 
ful and the men are robust, is far from being po- 
pulous. Peterhimself, in civilizing his dominions, 
unh;^pf i'y contributed to their depopulation. Fre- 
ffU''*T>t levies in his wars, which were long \in- 
vvcds^ial ; nations transported from the coasts ot 



CHARLES XII. 29 

the Caspian Sea to those of the Baltic, destroyed 
by fatigue, or cut off by diseases ; three-fourths of 
the Muscovite children dying of the sraali-pox, 
which is more dangerous in those climates than 
in any other ; in a word, the melancholy effects 
of a government savage for a long time, and even 
barbarous in its policy : to all these causes it is 
owing, that in this country, comprehending so 
great a part of the continent, there are still vast 
deserts. Russia, at present, is supposed to con- 
tain five hundred thousand families of gentlemen; 
two hundred thousand lawyers ; something more 
than five millions of citizens and peasants, who 
pay a sort of tax ; six hundred thousand men who 
live in the provinces conquered from the Swedes; 
the Cossacks in the Ukraine, and the Tartars that 
are subject to Muscovy, do not exceed two mil- 
lions ; in fine, it appears, that in this immense 
country, there are not above fourteen millions of 
men, that is, a little more than two-thirds of the 
inhabitants of France. 

While Peter was employed in changing the 
laws, the manners, the militia, and the very face 
of his country, he likewise resolved to increase 
his greatness by encouraging commerce, which at 
once constitutes the riches of a particular state, 
and contributes to the interest of the world in ge- 
neral. He resolved to make Russia the centre of 
trade between Asia and Europe. He determined 
to join the Duna, the Volga, and the Tanais, by 
canals, of which he drew the plans ; and thus to 
open anew passage from the Baltic to the Euxine 
and Caspian Seas, and from these seas to the 
Northern Ocean. 

jf"*' The port of Archangel, frozen up for nine 
*months in the year, and which could not be en- 
tered without making a long and dangerous cir- 
cuit, he did not think sufficiently commodious. 



80 HISTORY OF 

From the year 1700, he had formed a design of 
building a port upon the Baltic Sea, that should 
become the magazine of the North, and of raising 
a city that should prove the capital of his empire. 

He was already attempting to find out a north- 
east passage to China ; and the manufactures of 
Pekin and Paris were designed to embellish his 
new city. 

A road, 754 versts long, running through 
marshes that were to be drained, led from Moscow 
to his new city. Most of these projects were ex- 
ecuted by his own hands ; and the two empresses, 
who have successively followed him, have even 
improved upon his schemes, when they were 
practicable, and abandoned none but such as it 
was impossible to accomplish. 

He was always travelling up and down his do- 
minions, as much as his wars would allow him ; 
but he travelled like a legislator and natural phi- 
losopher, examining nature every where, endea- 
vouring to correct and perfect her ; sounding with 
his own hands the depth of seas and rivers ; re- 
pairing sluices, visiting docks, causing mines to 
be searched for, assaying metals, ordering accu- 
rate plans to be drawn, in the execution of which 
he himself assisted. 

He built, upon a very wild and uncultivated 
spot, the imperial city of Petersburg, which now 
contains sixty thousand houses, and is the resi- 
dence of a splendid court, where ail the refined 
pleasures are known and enjoyed. He built the 
harbour of Cronstad, on the Neva, and St. Croix, 
on the frontiers of Persia ; erected forts on the 
Ukraine, and in Siberia ; established offices of 
admiralty at Archangel, Petersburg, Astracan, 
and Azoph ; founded arsenals, and built and en- 
dowed hospitals. All his own houses were mean, 
and executed in a bad taste ; but he spared no 



CHARLES XII. 31 

expenses in rendering the public buildings grand 
and miigTiificent. 

The sciences, which in other countries have 
been the slow product of so many ages, were, by 
his care and industry, imported into Russia in 
fall perfection. He established an academy on 
the plan of the famous societies of Paris and Lon- 
don. The Delisles, the Bulfingers, the Herman- 
nuses the Beruouilles, and the celebrated Wolf, a 
man who excelled in every branch of philosophy, 
were all invited and brought to Petersburg at a 
great expense. This academy still subsists ; and 
the Muscovites, at length, have philosophers of 
their own nation. • ~~ 

He obliged the young nobility to travel forim- 
pjovement, and to bring back, into Russia the 
politeness of foreign countries ; and I have seen 
some young Russians who were men of genius 
and of knowledge. Thus it was that a single 
man changed the face of the greatest empire in 
ihe universe. It is however a shocking reflec- 
tion, that this reformer of mankind should have 
been deficient in that first of all virtues, — the vir- 
tue of humanity. Brutality in his pleasures, fero- 
city in his manners, and cruelty in his punish- 
ments, sullied the lustre of so many virtues. He 
civilized his subjects, and yet himse'lf remained 
a barbarian. He would so/uetimcs, with his own 
hands, execute sentences of death upon the un- 
happy criminals ; and, in the midst of a revel, 
would shew his dexterity in cutting off beads. 
There are princes in Africa, who with their own 
hands shed the blood of their subjects ; but these 
kings are always detested as barbarians. The 
death of a son, whom he ought to have corrected, 
or at most disinherited, would render the memory 
of Peter the object of universal hatred, were it 
not that the great aad many blessings he bestowed 



32 HISTORY OF 

upon his subjects, were almost sufficient to excuee 
his cruelty to his own offspring 

Such was the czar Peter ; and his great pro- 
jects were little more than in embryo when he 
joined the kings of Poland and Denmark against 
a child whom they all despised. The founder 
of the Russian empire was ambitious of being a 
conqueror; and such he thought he might easilj 
become by the prosecution of a war, which, being 
entered into with so much prudence, could not 
fail, he imagined, of proving advantageous to his 
subjects : the art of war was a new art, which it 
was necessary to teach his people. 

Besides, he wanted a port on the east side ot 
the Baltic, to facilitate the execution of all his 
schemes. He wanted the province of Ingria, 
which lies to the north-east of Livonia. The 
Swedes were in possession of it, and from them 
he resolved to take it by force. His predecessors 
had had claims upon Ingria, Esthonia, and Livo- 
nia ; and the present seemed a favourable op- 
portunity for reviving these claims, which had 
lain buried for an hundred years, and had been 
cancelled by the sanction of treaties. He there- 
fore made a league with the king of Poland, to 
wrest from young Charles XIL all the territories 
that are bounded by the Gulf of Finland, the 
Baltic Sea, Poland, and Muscovj. 



CHARLES XII. 33 

BOOK II. 

A (Budden and surprising change in the character of 
Charles XII. at eighteen years of age ; he undertakes 
a war against Denmark, Poland, and Muscovy; finishes 
the Danish war in six weeks ; with eight thousand 
Swedes defeats eighty thousand Russians, and then 
penetrates into Poland. A description of Poland, and 
its form of government. Charles gains several battles ; 
becomes master of Poland, where he prepares to nomi- 
nate a king. 
TN this manner did three powerful sovereigns 
menace the infancy of Charles XII. The 
news of these preparations struck the Swedes with 
consternation, and alarmed the council. All the 
great generals were now dead ; and every thing 
was to be feared under the reign of a young king, 
who had hitherto given no very favourable im- 
pressions of his character. He hardly ever as- 
sisted at the council; and when he did, it was only 
to sit cross-legged on the table, absent, inatten- 
tive, and seemingly regardless of every thing that 



The council happened to hold a deliberation 
in his presence concerning the dangerous situa- 
tion of affairs ; some of the members proposed to 
avert the storm by negotiations, when all on a 
sudden Charles rose with an air of gravity and 
assurance, like a man of superior consequence 
who has chosen his side : 'Gentlemen,' said he, 
' I am resolved never to begin an unjust war, nor 
ever to finish a just one but by the destruction of 
my enemies. My resolution is fixed. I will at- 
tack the first that shall declare against me ; and, 
after having conquered him, I hope I shall be 
able to strike terror into the rest.' All the old 
counsellors were astonished at this declaration, 
and looked at one another without daring to reply. 
Agreeably surprised to find their king possessed 
B 2 



34 HISTORY OF 

of such noble sentiments, and ashamed to be less 
sanguine in their expectations tiian him, they re- 
ceived his orders for the war with admiration. 

'i'hey were still more surprised when they saw 
him at once bid adieu to the most innocent amuse- 
ments of youth. The moment he began to make 
preparations for the -war, he entered on a new 
course of life, from which he never afterwards 
deviated in one single instance. Full of the idea 
of Alexander and Ceesar, he proposed to imitate 
those two conquerors in every thing but their 
vices. No longer did he indulge himself in mag- 
nificence, sports, and recreations : he reduced hia 
table to the most rigid frugality. He had for- 
merly been fond of gaiety and dress ; but from, 
that time he was never clad otherwise than a 
common soldier. He was supposed to have en- 
tertained a passion for a lady of his court : whe- 
ther there was any foundation for this supposition 
does not appear ; certain it is, he ever after re- 
nounced all commerce with women, not only for 
fear of being governed by them, but likewise to 
set an example of continence to his soldiers, 
whom he resolved to confine within the strictest 
discipline ; perhaps too from the vanity of being 
thought the only king that could conquer a pas- 
sion so difficult to be overcome. He likewise de- 
termined to abstain from wine during the rest of 
his life. Some people have told me, that his only 
reason for taking this resolution was to subdue 
his vicious inclinations in every thing, and to add 
one virtue more to his former stock ; but the 
greater number have assured me, that it was to 
punish himself for a riot he had committed, and 
an affront he had offered to a lady at table, even 
in presence of the Queen-mother. If that be true, 
this condemnation of his own conduct, and this 
abstinence which he imposed upon himself during 



CHARLES XII. 35 

tlie remainder of his life, is a species of heroism 
no less worthy of admiration.* 

He began by assuring the duke of Holstein, his 
brother-in law, of a speedy assistance. Eight 
thousand men were immediately sent into Pome- 
rania, a province bordering upon Holstein, in 
order to enable the duke to make head against the 
Danes. The duke indeed had need of them. 

His dominions were already laid waste, the 
castle of Gottorp taken, and the city of Tonningen 
pressed by an obstinate siege, to which the king 
of Denmark was come in person, in order to en- 
joy a conquest, which he held to be certain. This 
spark began to throw the empire into a flame. On 
the one side, the Saxon troops of the king of Po- 
land, those of Brandenburg, VVolfenbnttle, and 
Hesse Cassel, advanced to join the Danes, On 
the other, the king of Sweden's eigh.t thousand 
men, the troops of Hanover and Zell, and three 
Dutch regiments, came to the assistance of the 
duke. While the little country of Holstein was 
thus the theatre of war, two squadrons, the one 
from England, and the other from Holland, ap- 
peared in the Baltic. These two states were gua- 
rantees of the treaty of Altena, which the Danes 
had broke, and were eager to assist the duke of 
Holstein, because it was for the interest of their 
trade to check the growing power of the king of 
Denmark. They knew, that should he once be- 
come master of the Sound, he would impose the 
most rigorous laws upon the commercial nations, 
as soon as he should be able to do it with impu- 
nity. This consideration has long induced the 
English and the Dutch to maintain, as much as 
they can, a balance of power between the princes 

• If we may judge from the whole tenor of his life 
and character, he had ia fact uo tenderness in his nature. 



36 HISTORY OF 

of the North. They joined the young king ol 
Sweden, who seemed to be in danger of being 
crushed by such a powerful combination of ene- 
mies, and assisted him for the very same reason 
that the others attacked him ; namely, because 
they thought him incapable of defending himself. 

He was taking the diversion of boar-hunting 
when he received the news of the Saxons having in- 
vaded Livonia. ITiis pastime he enjoyed in a man- 
ner equally new and dangerous. N o other weapons 
were used but sharp-pointed sticks, with which 
tlie hunters defended themselves behind a cord 
stretched between two trees. A boar of a huge 
size came straight against the king, who, after a 
Jong struggle, by the help of the cord and stick, 
levelled him with the ground. Itmust be acknow- 
ledged, that in reading of such adventures as 
these, in considering the surprising strength of 
king Augustus, and reviewing the travels of the 
czar, we are almost tempted to think that we live 
in the times of Hercules and Theseus. 

Charles set out for his first campaign on tlie 
eighth day of May, new style, in the year 1700, 
and left Stockholm, whither he never returned. 
An innumerable company of people attended him 
to the port of Carlscroon, offering up their 
prayers for his safety, bedewing the ground with 
their tears, and e^spressing their admiration of his 
virtue. Before he left Sweden, he established 
at Stockholm a council of defence, composed of 
several senators who were to take care of what- 
ever concerned the navy, the army, and the for- 
tifications of the country. The body of the senate 
were provisionally to regulate every thing be- 
sides, in the interior government of the kingdom. 
Having thus settled the administration of public 
affairs, and freed his mind from every other care, 
ho devoted himself entirely to war. His fleet 



CHARLES XII. 37 

•consisted of three and forty vessels : that in which 
be Bailed, named the King Charles, and the largest 
that had ever been seen, was a ship of a hundred 
and twenty guns. Count Piper, his first minister, 
general Kenschild, and the count de Guiscard, 
the French ambassador in Sweden, embarked 
along with him. He joined the squadrons of the 
allies. The Danish fleet declined the combat, 
and gave the three combined fleets an opportunity 
of approaching so near to Copenhagen, as to throw 
some bombs into it. 

Certain it is, it was the king himself thac first 
proposed to general Renschild to make adescent, 
and to besiege Copenhagen by land, while it 
should be blocked up by sea. Renschild was sur- 
prised to receive a proposal that discovered as 
much prudence as courage, from such a young and 
unexperienced prince. Every thing was soon got 
ready for the descent. Orders were given for the 
embarkation of five thousand men who lay upon 
the coast of Sweden, and who were joined to the 
troops they had on board. The king quitted big 
large ship and went into a frigate, and they then 
began to dispatch towar-ds the shore three hundred 
grenadiers in small shallops. Among the shal- 
lops were some llat-bolto;ned boats that carried 
the fascines, the chevaux defrise, and the instru- 
ments of the pioneers. Five hundred chosen men 
followed in other shallops. Last of all came the 
king's men of war, with two English and two- 
Dutch frigates, which were to favour the landing 
of the troops under cover of their cannon. 

Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, is si- 
tuated in the Isle of Zealand, in the midst of a 
beautiful plain, having the Sound on the north- 
east, and on the east the Baltic, where the king, 
of Sweden then lay. At the unexpected movement 
of the vessels, which threatened a descent, the in- 



S8 HISTORY OF 

habitants were struck with consternation. Alarm- 
ed at the inactivity of their own fleet, and the mo- 
tion of the Swedish ships, they looked romid with 
terror, to obsierve where the storm would fall. 
Charles's fleet stopped over against Humblebeck, 
within seven miles of Copenhagen. In that place 
the Danes immediataly drew up their cavalry. 
Their foot were posted behind thick entrench- 
ments; and what artillery they could bring thi- 
ther, was pointed against the Swedes. 

The king then quitted his frigate, to throw him- 
self into the first shallop, at the head of his guards. 
The French ambassador being always at his side, 

* Sir,' said the king to him, in Latin (for he would 
never speak French), ' you have no quarrel with 
the Danes, you need go no farther, if you please.' 
— 'Sir,' answered the count de Guiscard, in 
French, • the king my master hath ordered me to 
attend your majesty. I hope you will not this 
day banish me from your court, which never before 
appeared so splendid.' So saying, he gave his 
hand to the king, who leaped into the shallop, 
whither he was followed by count Piper and the 
ambassador. They advanced under shelter of 
the cannon of the ships that favoured the landing. 
The small boats were still about three hundred 
paces from the shore. Charles, impatient to land, 
jumped into the sea, sword in hand, the water 
reaching above his waist. His ministers, the 
French ambas-sador. the oflScers, and soldiers, im- 
mediately followed his example, and marched up 
to the shore, amidst a shower of musket-shot 
from the enemy. The king, who had never in his 
life before heard a discharge of muskets loaded 
with ball, asked major Stuart, who stood next 
him, what meant that whistling which he heard. 

* It is the noise of the musket balls, which they 
fire upon you/ replied the major. ' Very well,* 



CHARLES XII. 39 

aays the king, * henceforward that shall be my mu- 
sic/ At that instant the major leceived a shot 
in his shoulder, and a lieutenant on the other side 
of him fell dead at his feet. 

It is usual for troops that are attacked in their 
trenches to be beat ; because the assailants have 
always an impetuosity of courage, which the de- 
fenders cannot have ; and besides, to wait for the 
enemy in our lines is frequently a confession of 
our own weakness, and of their superiority. The 
Danish horse and foot took to their heels, after a 
feeble resistance. The king having become mas- 
ter of their intrenchmeuts, ff 11 upon his knees, to 
return thanks to God for the first success of his 
arms. He forthwith caused redoubts to be made 
towards the town, and himself marked out the 
place for the encampment. Mean while he sent 
back his vessels to Schonen, a port of Sweden 
bordering upon Copenhagen, for a reinforcement 
of nine thousand men. Every thing conspired to 
favour the ardour of Charles's courage. The nine 
thousand men wefe upon the shore ready to em- 
bark, and next day a favourable wind brought 
them safe to the place of their destination. 

All this passed within sight of the Danish fleet, 
who durst not venture to advance. Copenhagen, 
struck with terror, immediately sent deimties to 
the king, beseeching him not to bombard the city. 
He received them on horseback, at the head of hif 
regiment of guards ; and the deputies fell upon 
their knees before him. He exacted from the citi- 
zensfour hundred thousand rix-dollars, command- 
ing them, at the same time, to supply his camp 
with all kinds of provisions, for which he assured 
them they should be honestly paid. They brought 
tlie provisions, because they durst not disobey ; 
but they little expected that conquerors would 
condescend to pay for them; and those who brought 



40 , HISTORY OF 

them were surprised to find that tbeywere gene- 
rously and instantly paid, even by the meanest 
soldier in the army. There had long prevailed 
among the Swedish troops a strict discipline, 
which had greatly contributed to the success of 
their arms : and the king rendered it still more 
rigid. No soldier durst refuse to pay for what he 
had bought, still less to go a plundering, nor even 
80 much as to go out of the camp. What is more, 
he would not allow his troops, after a victory, to 
strip the bodies of the dead, until they had ob- 
tained his permission ; and he easily brought them 
to the observance of this injunction. Prayers were 
regularly said in his camp twice a day ; at seven 
in the morning and four in the afternoon ; and he 
never failed to attend them himself, in order to 
give his soldiers an example of piety as well as 
of valour, i^lis camp, which was better regulated 
than Copenhagen, had every thing in abundance; 
the peasants chusing much rather to sell their pro- 
visions to their enemies, the Swedes, than to the 
Danes, who did not pay them so well. Even the 
citizens were more than once obliged to come to 
the Swedish camp, to purchase those provisions 
which they could not find in their own markets. 

The king of Denmark was then in Holstein, 
whither he seemed to have gone for no other pur- 
pose than to raise the siege of Tonningen. He 
saw the Baltic covered with the enemy's ships, 
and a young conqueror already master of Zealand, 
and just upon the point of taking possession of his 
capital. He caused an edict to be published 
throughout all his dominions, promising liberty 
to every one that should take up arms against the 
Swedes. 'J'his declaration was of great weight in 
a country which was formerly free, but where all 
the peasants, and even many of the citizens, are 
now-a-days slaves. Charles sent word to the king 



CHARLES Xir. 41 

of Denmark , that bis only intention in making war 
was to oblige him to come to a peace ; and that 
he must either resolve to do justice to the duke 
of Holstein, or see Copenhagen levelled with the 
ground, and his dominions laid waste with fire and 
Bword. The Dane was loo happy in having to do 
with a conqueror who valued himself on his re- 
gard to justice. A congress was held in the town 
of Travendai, which lies on the frontiers of Hol- 
stein. The king of Sweden would not allow the 
negotiations to be protracted by the arts of mi- 
nisters ; but determined to have the treaty finished 
with the same rapidity with which he bad made 
his descent upon Zealand. In effect a peace was 
concluded, on the fitih of August, to the advan- 
tage of the duke of Holstein, who was indemnified 
for all the expenses of the war, and delivered from 
oppression. The king of Sweden, fully satisfied 
with having succoured his ally, and humbled his 
enemy, would accept of nothing for himself. Thus 
Charles X 1 1, at eighteen years of age, began and 
finished this war in less than six weeks. 

Exactly at the same time, the king of Poland 
invested Rijia, the capital of Livonia ; and the 
czar was advancing on the east, at the head of 
near an hundred thousand men. Riga was defend- 
ed by the old count d'Alberg, a Swedish general, 
who, at the age of eighty, joined all the fire of 
youth to the experience of sixty campaigns. Count 
Flemming, afterwards minister of Poland, a man 
of distinguished abilities as well in the field as the 
cabinet, and Patkul the Livonian, pushed the 
siege with great vigour under the direction of the 
king ; but notwithstanding several advantages 
which the besiegers had j^ained, the experience of 
old count d'Aiberg b;ifiied all their efforts, and the 
king of Poland began to despair of being able to 
take the town. At last he laid hold of an honour- 



42 HISTORY OF 

able pretext for raising the siege. Riga was full 
of merchants' goods belonging to the Dutch. The 
states- general ordered their ambassador at the 
court of Augustus, to represent the matter to his 
majesty. The king of Poland did not long resist 
their importunities, and agreed to raise the siege, 
rather than occasion the least damage to his allies, 
who were not greatly surprised at this stretch of 
complaisance, to tbe real cause of which they 
were no strangers. 

The only thing that Charles had now to do, to- 
wards the finishing of his first campaign, was to 
march against his rival in glory, Peter Alexiowitz. 
He was the more exasperated against him, as 
there were still at Stockholm three I\iuscovite am- 
bassadors, who had lately sworn to the renewal 
of an inviolable peace. Possessed as he was him- 
self of tbe m.ost incorruptible integrity, he could 
not conceive how a legislator, like tbe czar, should 
make a jest of what ought to be held so sacred. The 
young prince, whose sense of honour was ex- 
tremely refined, never imagined that there could 
be one system of morality for kings, and another 
for private persons. The emperor of Muscovy 
had just published a manifesto, which he had 
much better have suppressed. He there alleged, 
as the reason of the war, the little respect that had 
been shewn him when he went incognito to Higa, 
and the extravagant prices his ambassadors had 
been obliged to pay for provisions. Such were 
tbe mighty injuries for which he ravaged Ingria, 
with eighty thousand men ! 

At the head of this great army he appeared be- 
fore Narva, on the first of October, a season more 
severe in that climate than the month of January 
is at Paris. The czar, who in such weather would 
sometimes ride post for four hundred leagues, 
to see a mine or a canal, was not more sparing of 



CHARLES XII. 43 

bis troops than of himself. He knew, moreover, 
that the Swedes, ever since the time of Gustavus 
Adolphus, could make war in the depth of winter 
as well as in summer; and he wanted to ac- 
custom the Russians likewise to forget all distinc- 
tion of seasons, and to render them, one day, equal 
to the Swedes. 'J'hus, in a time when frost and 
snow compel other nations in more temperate cli- 
mates to agree to a suspension of arms, the czar 
Peter besieged Nai-va, within thirty degrees of 
the pole, and Charles XII. advanced to its relief. 
The czar was no sooner arrived before the place, 
than he immediately' put in practice what he had 
learned in his travels. He marked out his camp, 
fortified it on ail sides, raised redoubts at certain 
distances, and opened the trenches himself. He 
had given the command of his troops to the duke 
de Croi, a German, and an able general, but who 
at that time was little assisted by the Russian of- 
ficers. As for himself, he had no other rank in 
the army than that of a private lieutenant. He 
thereby gave an example of military obedience to 
hisnobility.hithertounacquainted with discipline, 
and accustomed to march at the head of ill- 
armed slaves, without experience and without 
order. There was nothing strange in seeing him 
who had turned carpenter at Amsterdam, in order 
to procure himself fleets, serve as lieutenant at 
Narva, to teach his subjects the art of war. 

The Muscovites are strong and indefatigable, 
and perhaps as courageous as the Swedes ; but it 
requires time and discipline to render troops war- 
like and invincible. The onlyregiments that could 
be depended upon were commanded b) some Ger- 
man officers ; but their number was very incon- 
siderable. The rest were barbarians forced from 
tlieir forests, and covered with the skins of wild 
beasts ; some armed with arrows, and others with 



44 HISTORY OF 

clubs. Few of them had fusees ; none of them 
had ever seen a regular .siege ; and there was not 
one good cannoneer in the whole army. A hun- 
dred and fifty cannon, which one would have 
thought must have soon reduced the little town of 
Narva to ashes, were hardly able to make a 
breach, while the artillery of the city mowed dowa 
at every discharge whole ranks of the enemj in 
their trenches. Narva was almost without forti- 
fications : the baron de Hoorn, who commanded 
there, had not a thousand regular . troops ; and 
yet this immense army could not reduce it in ten 
weeks. 

It was now the fifth of November, when the 
czar learned that the king of Sweden had crossed 
the sea with two hundred transports, and was ad- 
vancing to the relief of Narva. The Swedes were 
not above twenty thousand strong. The czar had 
no advantage but that of nanabers. Far, there- 
fore, from despising his enen:y,he employed every 
art in order to crush him. Not coiitentwith eighty 
thousand men, he resolved to oppose to him an- 
other army still, and to check his progress at every 
step. He had already given orders for the march 
of about thirty thousand nifn, who were advanc- 
ing from Plesliow with ereat expedition. He then 
took a step that wouM have rendered him con- 
temptible, could a legislator who had performed 
such great and glorious actions incur that impu- 
tation. He left his camp, where his presence was 
necessary, to go in quest of this new army, which 
might have arrived well enough without him, 
and seemed by this conduc to betray his fear of 
engaging in his intrenchi.ients a young and in- 
experienced prince who might come to attack 
him. 

Be that as it will, he resolved to shut up Charles 
XII. between two armies. Nor was this all : a 



CHARLES XII. 45 

detachment of thirty thousand men from the camp 
before Narva were posted at a league's distance 
from the city, directly in the king of Sweden's 
road : twenty thousand strelirz were placed far- 
ther off, upon the same road ; and five thousand 
others composed an advanced guard ; and he must 
necessarily force his way through all these troops 
before he could reach the camp, which was for- 
tified with a rampart and double foss6. The king 
of Sweden had landed at Pernau, in the Gulf of 
Riga, with about sjxteen thousand foot, and little 
more than four thousand horse. From Pernau 
he made a flying march to Revel, followed by all 
his cavalry, and only by four thousand foot. He 
always marched in the van of his army, without 
waiting for the rear. He soon found himself, with 
bis eight thousand men only, before the first posts 
of the enemy. He immediately resolved, without 
the least hesitation, to attack them, one after an- 
other, before they could possibly learn with what 
a small number they had to engage. The Mus- 
covites seeing the Swedes come upon them, ima- 
gined they had a whole army to encounter. The 
advanced guard of five thousand men, posted 
among rocks, a station where one hundred reso- 
lute men might have stopped the march of a large 
army, fled at their first approach. 1'he twenty 
thousand men that lay behind them, perceiving 
the flight of their feliow-soldievs, took the alarm, 
and carried their terror and confusion with them 
into the camp. All the posts were carried in two 
days ; and what upon other occasions would have 
been reckoned three distinct victories, did not re- 
tard the king's march for the space of one hour. 
He appeared then at last with his eight thousand 
men, exhausted with the fatigues of so long a 
march, before a camp of eighty thousand Musco- 
vites, defended by a hundred and fiftjr pieces of 



46 HISTORY OF 

cannon ; and, scarce allowing bis troops any time 
for rest, he instantly gave orders for the attack. 

The signal was two fusees, and the word in 
German, * With the aid of God.' A general of- 
ficer having represented to him the greatness of 
the danger, ' What,' says he. ' do not you think, 
that with ray eight thousand brave Swedes, I 
may easily beat eighty thousand Russians V But, 
soon after, fearing that wbit he had said might 
savour too much of gasconade, he ran after the 
officer, * And are not you.' says he, ' of the same 
opinion 1 have not I a double advantage over 
the enemy? one, that their cavalry can be of no 
service to them ; the other, that the place being 
narrow their number will only incommode themi; 
and thus in reality I shall be stronger than they.' 
The officer did not care to differ from him ; and 
thus they marched against the ^.Juscovites about 
mid-day, on the 30th of November, 1700. 

As soon as their cannoM had made a breach in 
their intrenchments, the Swedes advanced with 
screwed bayonets, bavin" a furious shower of 
snow on their backs, whicit d^ove full in the face 
of the enemy. The Russians stood the shock for 
half an hour without flinciiing. The king made 
his attack upon the right of the camp, where the 
czar's quarters lay, hoping to come to a ren- 
counter with him, as be did not know that 
he had gone in quest of the forty thousand men, 
who were dailv expected to arrive. At the first 
discharge of the enemy's muskets, he received 
a shot in his neck; but as it was a spent ball, 
it lodged in the folds of his black neckcloth, 
and did him no harm, f I is liorse was killed under 
him. Mr. de Spar told nie, that the king mounted 
another horse with great rl^ility, saying, ' These 
fellows make me go thr(.i;-jh my exercise ;* and 
continued to fight and gi'e orders with the same 



CHARLES XIT. 47 

presence of mind. After an engagement of three 
hours, the intrenchments were forced on all sides. 
The king pursued the right of the enemy as far 
as the river Narva, with his left wing ; if we may 
be allowed to call by that name about four thou- 
sand men, who were in pursuit of near forty 
thousand. The bridge broke under the fugitives, 
and the river was immediately filled with dead 
carcases. The rest returned to their camp, with- 
out knowing whither tliej went ; and finding 
some barracks, they took post behind them. 
There they defended themselves for a while, as 
they were not able to make their escape ; but at 
last their generals Dolgozouky, Gollofkin, and 
Federowitz, surrendered themselves to the king, 
and laid their arms at his feet ; and, while they 
were presenting them to him, the duke de Croi 
came up and surrendered himself with thirty 
officers. 

Charles received all these prisoners of distinc- 
tion with as much civility and politeness as if he 
had been paying them the honours of an enter- 
tainment in his own court. He detained none 
but the general oificers. All the subalterns and 
common soldiers were disarmed and conducted 
to the river Narva, where they were supplied 
with boats for passing over, and allowed to re- 
turn to their own country. In the mean time 
night came on, and the right wing of the Musco- 
vites still continued the fight. The Swedes had 
not lost above six hundred men. Eight thousand 
Muscovites had been killed in their intrench- 
ments ; many were drowned ; many had crossed 
the river ; and yet there still remained in the 
camp a sufficient number to cut off the Swedes to 
the last man. But the loss of battles is not so 
much owing to the number of the killed, as to the 
tiroidity of those who burvive. The king em- 



48 HISTORY OF 

ployed the small remains of the aay in seizing 
upon the enemy's artillery. He took possession 
of an advantageous post between the camp and 
the city, where he slept a few hours upon the 
ground, Wrapt up in his cloak, intending at day- 
break to fall upon the left wing of the enemy, 
which was not yet entirely routed. But at two 
o'clock in the morning, general Wade, who 
commanded that wing, having heard of the gra- 
cious reception the king had given to the other 
generals, and of his having dismissed all the 
subaltern officers and soldiers, sent a messenger 
to him, begging he would grant him the same 
favour ; the conqueror replied, that he should 
have it, provided he would come at the head of 
his troops, and make them lay their arms and 
colours at his feet. Soon after the general ap- 
peared with his Muscovites, to the number of 
about thirty thousand. They marched, both sol- 
diers and officers, with their heads uncovered, 
through less than seven thousand Swedes. The 
soldiers, as they passed the king, threw their 
guns and swords upon the ground, and the offi- 
cers presented him with their ensigns and colours. 
He caused the whole of this multitude to be con- 
ducted over the river, without detaining a single 
soldier. Had he kept them, the number of pri- 
soners would at least have been five times greater 
than that of the conquerors. 

After this, he entered victorious into Narva, 
accompanied by the duke deCroi, and other ge- 
neral officers of the Muscovites. He ordered 
their swords to be restored to them all ; and, 
knowing that they wanted money, and that the 
merchants of Narva would not lend them any, 
he sent a thousand ducats to the duke de Croi, 
and five hundred to every Muscovite officer, who 
could not sufficiently admire the civility of this 



CHARLES XTI. 49 

treatment, of which they were incapable of fonn- 
ing the least conception. An account of the vic- 
tory was inuutdiately drawn up at Narva, ia 
order. to be sent to Stockholm, and to the allies 
of Sweden : but the king expunged with his own 
hand every circumstance in the relation that 
tended too much to his honour, or i^eemed to re- 
flect upon the czar. His modesty however could 
not hinder them from striking at Stockholm se- 
veral medals to perpetuate the memory of these 
events. Among others they struck one which 
represented the king on one side, standing on a 
pedestal, to which were chained a Muscovite, 
a Dane, and a Polander ; and on the reverse a 
Hercules, holding his club, and treading upon a 
Cerberus, with this inscription : 3Ve$ uno con- 
Uidit iclu. 

Among the prisoners taken at the battle of 
Narva, there was one whose fate exhibited a re- 
markable instance of the great incoystancy of 
fortune. He was the eldest son and heir of the 
king of Georgia ; his name the czarafisArtschelou. 
This title of czarafis, among the Tartars, as well 
as in Muscovy, signifies prince, or son of the czar; 
for the word czar, or tzar, signified king among 
the ancient Scythians, from whom all these peo- 
ple are descended, and is not derived from the 
Caesars of i-tome, so long unknown to these bar- 
barians. His father Mittelleski, czar, and master 
of the most beautiful part of the ctmntry, lying 
between the mountains of Ararat and the eastern 
coasts of the Black Sea, having been expelled 
from his kingdom by his own subjects, in 1688, 
had rather chosen to throw himself into the arms 
of the emperor of Muscovy, than to apply to the 
Turks for assistance. His son, a youth of nine- 
teen years of age, followed Peter the Great in his 
expedition against the Swedes, and was taken 
C 



50 HISTORY OF 

fighting by some Finland soldiers, who had al- 
ready stripped him, and were upon the point of 
killing him. Count llenschild rescued him from 
their bands, supplied bini with clothes, and pre- 
sented him to his mrster, Charles sent him to 
Stockholm, where the unfortunate prince died in 
a few years after. The king, upon seeing him 
depart, could not help making, iu the hearing of 
bis officers, a very natural reflection on the strange 
fate of an Asiatic prince born at the foot of Mount 
Caucasus, and going to live a prisoner among the 
snows of Sweden. ' It is just,' says he, * as if I 
were one day to be a prisoner among the Crim 
Tartars.' These words made no impression at 
that time ; but, in the sequel, there was but too 
much occasion to remember them, when the event 
had proved them to be a prediction. 

The czar was advancing by long marches with 
a body of forty thousand Russians, in full hopes 
of surrounding his enemy on all sides ; but be- 
fore he had proceeded half way, he received in- 
telligence of the battle of Narva, and of the dis- 
persion of his whole army. He was not so foolish 
as to think of attacking with his forty thousand 
raw and undisciplined troops, a conqueror, who 
had lately defeated eighty thousand men in their 
intrenchments. He returned home, with a de- 
termined resolution of disciplininghis troops, at 
the same time that he civilized his subjects. ' I 
know,' says he, ' that the Swedes will beat us for 
a long time ; but, at last, they will teach us to 
beat them.' Moscow, his capital, was in the 
utmost terror and consternation at the news of 
this defeat. Such was the pride and ignorance 
of the people, that they actually imagined they 
had been conquered by a power more thanhuman, 
and that the Swedes were so many magicians. 
This opinion was so general, that public prayers 



CHARLES XIL 51 

were onlered to be put vp to St. Nicholas, the 
patron of Muscovy, on the occasion. The form 
of these prayers is too singular to be omitted. It 
runs thus : 

• O thou who art our perpetual comforter in all 
our adversities, great St. Nicholas, infinitely 
povt^erful, by what siu have we offended thee, ia 
our sacrifices, kneelings, bowings, and thanks- 
givings, that thou hast thus abandoned us? We 
implored thy assistance against these terrible, 
insolent, enraged, dreadful, unconquerable de- 
stroyers, when, like lions and bears robbed of 
their young, they fell upon, terrified, wounded, 
and slew by thousands, us who are thy people. 
As it is impossible that this should have hap- 
pened without sorcery and witchcraft, we beseech 
thee, O great St. Nicbolas, to be our champion, 
and standard-bearer, to deliver us from this 
troop of sorcerers, and to drive them far from 
our frontiers, witli the recompense they deserve.* 

While the M uscovites were thus complaining of 
their defeat to St. Nicholas, Charles XII. re- 
turned thanks to God, and prepared himself for 
new victories. 

The king of Poland had reason to fear, that his 
enemy, already victorious over the Danes and the 
Muscovites, would soon turn his arms against 
him. He entered into a closer alliance with the 
czar than ever he bad done before. These two 
princes agreed upou an interview, in order to 
concert their measures. They met at Birsen, a 
small town in Lithuania, without any of those 
fornaalities which serve only to retard business, 
and neither suited their situation nor their hu- 
mour. The princes of the North visit one an- 
other with a familiarity that has not yet taken 
place in the more southern parts of Europe, 
Peter and Augustus spent fifteen days together. 



52 HISTORY OF 

in the cnjoynient of pleasures, which were even 
somewhat extravagant ; for the czar, amidst his 
cares for the reformation of his subjects, could 
never correct his dangerous propension to de- 
bauchery. 

The king of Poland engaged to furnish the czar 
with fifty thousand German troops, which were 
to be hired from several princes, and for which 
the czar was to pay. Peter, on the other hand, 
was to send fifty tliousand Russians into Poland, 
to learn the art of war, and promised to pay to 
Augustus three millions of rix-dollars in two 
years. This treaty, had it been carried into exe- 
cution, might have proved fatal to the king of 
Sweden : it was a sure and ready method of ren- 
dering the Mu;-covites good soldiers : perhaps 
it was forging chains for a part of I'^urope. 

CharK"S Xll. exerted his utmost endeavours to 
prevent the king of Poland from reaping any be- 
nefit from this league. After having passed the 
winter at Narva, he appeared in Livonia in the 
neighbourhood of Higa, the very town which 
Augustus had in vain besieged. The Saxon 
troops were posted along the river Diina, which 
is very broad in that place ; and Cliarles, who 
lay on the other side of the river, was obliged to 
dispute the passage. The Saxons were not com- 
manded by their own prince, who was then sick, 
but were headed by marshal Stenau, who acted as 
general, under whom commanded prince Ferdi- 
nand, duke of Courland, and that same Palkul 
who had formerly, at the hazard of his life, vin- 
dicated the privileges of his country against 
Charles XI. by his pen, and now defended the 
same cause against Cliarles XII. by his arms. 
The king of Sweden had caused some large boats 
to be built of a new construction, whose sides 
were much higher than ordinary, and could be 



CHARLES XII. 53 

raised or let down, like a draw-bridge. When 
raised they covered the troops on board, and 
when Jet down they served as a bridge to land 
them. He likewise made use of another artifice. 
Having observed tliat the wind blew from the 
north, where he lay, to the south, where the 
enem.y were encamjjed, he set fire to a large 
heap of wet straw, which diffusing a thick smoke 
over the river, prevented the Saxons from seeing 
his troops, or observing what he was going to do. 
Under cover of this cloud, he dispatched some 
barks filled with more of the same smoking straw; 
so that the cloud always increasing, and being 
driven by the wind directly to the face of the 
enemy, rendered it impossible for them to 
know whether the king was passing or not. 
Mean while, he alone conducted the execution of 
his stratagem ; and when he had reached the 
middle of the river, ' Well,' says he to general 
Renschild, ' the Uuna will be as favourable to us 
as the sea of Copenhagen ; take my word for it, 
general, we shall beat them.' He arrived at the 
other side in a quarter of an hour, and was sorry 
to find that he was only the fourth person that 
leapt on shore. He forthwith landed his cannon, 
and drew up his troops in order of battle, while 
the enemy, blinded with smoke, could make no 
opposition except by a few random shot. At 
last the mist being dispersed by the wind, the 
Saxons saw the king of Sweden already advanc- 
ing against them. 

Marshal Stenau lost not a moment. As soon 
as he observed the Swedes, he rushed upon them 
with the flower of his cavalry. The violent shock 
of this body falling upon the Swedes just as they 
were forming, threw them into confusion. They 
gave way, were broken, and pursued even into 
the river. The kins of Sweden rallied them in a 



54 HISTORY OF 

moment, iii the midst of the water, with as much 
composure as if he had been making a review ; 
th^n the Swedes, marching more compact than 
before, repu'sed marshal Stenau, and advanced 
into the plain. Stenau finding his troops begin 
to stagger, acted hke an able general. He made 
them retire into a dry place, flanked with a mo- 
rass and a wood, where his artillery lay. The 
advantage of the ground, and the time which the 
Saxons had iLus obtained, of recovering from 
their first surprise, restored to them their former 
courage. Charles immediately began the attack. 
He had fifteen thousand men : Stenau and the 
duke>of Courland about twelve thousand, with 
no other artillery than one dismounted cannon. 
The battle was obstinate and bloody. The duke 
had two horses killed under him : he penetrated 
thrice into the heart of the king's guards ; but at 
length being unhorsed by a blow with the butt- 
end of a musket, his army was thrown into con- 
fusion, and no longer disputed the victory. His 
cuirassiers carried him off with great difficulty, 
all bruised and half dead, from the thickest of the 
fight, and from under the horses heels, which 
trampled on him. 

Immediately after this victory, the king of 
Sweden advanced to Mittau, the capital of Cour- 
land. All the towns of tiie duchy surrendered to 
him at discretion ; it was rather a journey than a 
conquest. From thence he passed without delay 
into Lithuania, conquering wherever became: cind 
he felt a pleasing satisfaction, as he himself owned, 
when he entered triumphant into the town of 
Birsen, where the king of Poland and the czar had 
plotted his destruction but a few months before. 

It was in this place that he formed the de.sign. 
of dethro-ning the king of Poland, by the hands 
of the Poles themselves. One day when he was 



CHARLES XII. 55 

at *iblei, full of this enterprise, aud ooserving a» 
Mi^A the strictest temperance, wrapped up in a 
pr>..'ound silence, aud seeming, as it were, ab- 
sosbed in the greatness of his conceptions, a Ger- 
man colonel, who waited upon him, said with an 
audible voice, that the meals which the czar and 
the king of Poland had made in the same place 
were somewhat different from those of his ma- 
jesty. ' Yes,' says the king, rising,. ' and I shall 
the more easily spoil their digestion.' la shorty 
by intermixing a little policy with the force of his 
arms, he resolved to hasten the execution of this 
mighty project. 

Poland, a part of the ancient Sarmatia, is some- 
what larger than France, but less populous, though 
it is more so than Sweden. The inhabitants were 
converted to Christianity only about seven hun- 
dred and fifty years ago. It is somewhat sur- 
prising, that the Roman language, which never 
penetrated into that country, isnow-a-days spoken 
in common no where but in Poland ; there every 
one speaks Latin, even the very servants. This 
extensive country is very fertile ; but the natives 
are only, on that account, so much the less indus- 
trious. The artists and tradesmen in Poland are 
Scotch, French, and especially Jews. The last have, 
in this country, near three hundred synagogues; 
and multiplying too fast, and to too greatnumbers, 
they will, in time be banished from it, as they 
have already been from Spain. J hey buy the 
corn, the cattle, and the commodities of the coun- 
try at a low rate, dispose of them at Dantzic, and 
in Germany, and sell to the nobles at a high 
price wherewithal to gratify the onlj species of 
luxury which they know and love. Thus Poland, 
v/atered with the finest rivers in the worUi, rich 
in pastures, and in mines of salt, and covered 
with luxuriant crops, reatains poor, in spite of 



56 HISTORY OF 

its plenty ; because the people are slaves, and the 
nobles are proud and indolent. 

The constitution of Poland is the most perfect 
model of the ancient government of the Goths 
and Celta«, which hath been corrected or al- 
tered every where else. It is the only state that 
has preserved the name of republic together with 
the royal dignity. 

Every gentleman has a right to give his vote 
in the election of a king, and may even be elected 
himself. Ihis inestimable privilege is attended 
with inconveniences proportionably great. The 
throne is almost always exposed to sale ; and as 
a Polanderis seldom able to make the purchase, 
it has frequently been sold to strangers. The no- 
bility and clergy defend their liberties against the 
king, and deprive the rest of the nation of theirs. 
The body of the people are slaves. Such is the 
unhappy fate of mankind, that in every country 
the greater number are, oneway or other, enslaved 
by the lesser. There the peasant sows not for 
himself but for his lord, to whom his person, his 
lands, and even the labour of his hands belong; 
and who can sell him, or cut his throat with the 
same impunity as he kills the beasts in the field. 
Every gentleman is independent. He cannot be 
tried in a criminal cause but by an assembly of 
the whole nation : he cannot be arrested till once 
he is condemned : so that he is hardly ever pu- 
nished. There are great numbers of poor among 
them. These engage in the service of the more 
wealthy, receive wages from them, and perform 
the meanest offices. They rather choose to serve 
their equals than to enrich themselves by com- 
merce ; and while they are dressing their masters' 
horses, they give themselves the title of electors 
of kings and destroyers of tyrants. 

To see a king of Poland in the pomp of roya* 



CHARLES XII. 57 

majesty, one would take him to be the most ab- 
solute prince in Europe ; and yet he is the least 
so. The Poles really make with him thatcontract, 
which in other nations is only supposed to be 
made between the king and his subjects. The 
king of Poland, even at his consecration, and in 
swearing to the Pacta conveuta, absolves his sub- 
jects from the oath of allegiance, should he ever 
violate the laws of the republic. 

He nominates to all offices, and confers all 
honours. Nothing is hereditary in Poland, but 
the lands and rank of the nobility. The son of a 
palatine, or of a king, has no claim to the dignity 
of his father. But there is this great difference 
betwixt the king and the republic, that tho former 
cannot stiip any person of an office after he has 
bestowed it upon him ; whereas the latter may 
deprive him of the crown, if he trangress the laws 
of the state. 

The nobility, jealous of their liberty, fre- 
quently sell their votes, but seldom their affec- 
tions. They have no sooner elected a king, than 
they begin to fear his ambition, and to oppose 
him by their cabals. The grandees whom he 
has made, and whom he cannot unmake, often 
become his enemies, instead of remaining his 
creatures. Those who are attached to the court 
are hated by the rest of the nobility, which al- 
ways forms two parties ; a division unavoid- 
able, and even necessary in those countries, that 
must needs have kings, and yet preserve their 
liberties. 

Whatever concerns the nation is regulated in 
the assemblies of the states -general, which are 
called diets. These states are composed of the 
body of the senate, and of several gentlemen. 
The senators are the palatines and the bishops ; 
the gentlemen the deputies of the particular diets 
C2 



58 HISTORY OF 

in each palatinate. In these great assemblies 
presides the archbishop of Gnesna, primate of 
Poland, viceroy of the kingdom during an inter- 
regnum, and next to the king, the first person in 
the state. Besides him there is seldom any other 
cardinal in Poland : because the Roman purple 
giving no precedence in the senate to a bishop 
who should be made a cardinal, would be obliged 
either to take his rank as senator, or to renounce 
the substantial rights of the dignity be enjoys in 
his own country, to support the vain pretensions 
of a foreign honour. 

These dists, by the laws of the kingdom, must 
be held alternately in Poland and Lithuania. 
The deputies frequently transact their business 
sabre in hand, like the ancient Sarmatians, from 
whom they are sprung, and sometimes too in- 
toxicated with liquor, a vice to which the Sarma- 
tians were utter strangers. Every gentleman de- 
puted to the states-general enjoys the same right 
which the tribunes of the people had at Rome, 
of opposing themselves to the laws of the senate. 
Any one gentleman, who says, ' I protest,^ stops 
by that single word the unanimous resolution of 
all the rest ; and if be quits the place where the 
diet is held, the assembly is ot course dissolved. 

To the disorders arising from this law, they ap- 
ply a remedy still more dangerous. Poland is 
seldom without two factions. Unanimity in their 
diets being thus rendered impossible, each party 
forms confederacies, in which they decide by a 
plurality of voices, without any regard to the 
protestation of the lesser number. These assem- 
blies, condemned by the laws, but authorized by 
custom, are held in the king's name, though fre- 
quently without his consent, and even against his 
interest ; in much the same manner as the league 
in France made use of the name of Kenrj III. 



CHARLES XII. 59 

to ruin him ; and as the parliament in England, 
that brought Charles I. to the block, began by- 
prefixing his majt^sty's name to all the resolutions 
they took to (Jestroy him. When the public com- 
motions are ended, it belongs to the general diets 
either to confirm or repeal the acts of these con- 
federacies. A diet can even cancel the acts of 
a former diet ; for the same reason that in ab- 
solute monarchies, a king can abolish the laws 
of his predecessor, or even those which have been 
made by himself. 

The nobility, who make the laws of the re- 
public, likewise constitute its strength. They ap- 
pear on horseback completely armed, upon great 
emergencies, and are able to make up a body of 
a hundred thousand men. This great army, 
■which is called pos])oIite, moves slowly, and is ill 
governed. It cannot continue assembled for any 
length of time, for want of provisions and forage : 
it has neither discij)line, subordination, nor ex- 
perience ; but that love of liberty by which it is 
animated will always make it formidable. 

These nobles may be conquered or dispersed, 
or even held in subjection for a time ; but they 
800U shake off the yoke. They compare them- 
selves to the reeds, which the storm may bend 
to the ground, but which rise again the moment 
the storm is over. It is for this reason that they 
have no places of strength ; they will have them- 
selves to be the only bulwarks of the republic ; 
nor do they ever suffer their king to build any 
forts, lest he should employ them less for their 
defence than their oppression. Their country is 
entirely open, excepting two or three frontier 
places : so that if in a war, whether civil or 
foreign, they resolve to sustain a siege, they are 
obliged to raise fortifications of earth in a hurry, 
to repair the old walls that are half ruined, and 



60 HISTORY OF 

to enlarge the ditches that are almost filled up; 
and the town is commonly taken before the in- 
trenchments are finished. 

The pospolite are not always on horseback to 
defend the country : they never mount but by 
order of the diets, or sometimes in imminent dan- 
gers, by the simple order of the king. 

The usual guard of Poland is an army, which 
ought to be maintained at the expense of the re- 
public. It is composed of two bodies, under two 
grand generals. The first body is that of Poland, 
and should consist of thirty-six thousand men ; the 
second, to the number of twelve thoutand.is that 
of Lithuania. The two grand generals are inde- 
pendent of each other ; though nominated by the 
king, they are accountable for their conduct to the 
republic alone, and have an unlimited power over 
their troops. The colonels are absolute masters 
of their regiments ; and it is their business to 
maintain and pay them as well as they can. But 
as they are seldom paid themselves, they ravage 
the country, ruin the peasants, to satisfy their 
own avidity, and that of their soldiers. The Po- 
lish lords appear in these armies with more mag- 
nificence than they do in the towns ; and their 
tents are more elegant than their houses. The 
cavalry, which makes up two-thirds of the army, 
is composed almost entirely of gentlemen ; and 
is remarkable for the beauty of their horses, and 
the richness of the accoutrements and harness. 

The gendarmes especially, whom they distin- 
guish into hussars and pancernes, never march 
without several valets in their retinue, who lead 
their horses ; those are furnished with bridles 
that are ornamented with plates and nails of sil- 
ver, embroidered saddles, saddle bows, and gilt 
stirrups, or stirrups made of massy silver, with 
large housings trailing on the ground, after tho 



CHARLES Xir. 61 

manner of the Turks, whose magnificence the 
Poles endeavour to imitate as much as they can. 

But if the cavalry are fine and gorgeous, the in- 
fantry were at that timeproportionably wretched, 
ill clothed, and ill armed, without regimentals, 
or any thing uniform. Such at least was theii 
condition, till towards the year 1710 : and yet 
these infantry, who resemble the wandering Tar- 
tars, support hunger, cold, fatigue, and all the 
hardships of war, with surprising resolution. 

One may still discern in the Polish soldiers the 
character of their ancestors, the ancient Sarma- 
tians, the same want of discipline, the same fury 
in the! assault, the same readiness to fly and to 
return to the charge, and the same cruel disposi- 
tion to slaughter when they conquer. 

The king of Poland flattered himself at first, 
that in this pressing necessity, these two bodies 
would support his cause ; that the Polish pospo- 
lite would take up arms at his orders ; and that 
these forces, joined to the Saxon subjects, and to 
his Russian allies, would compose an army, before 
which the small number of the Swedes would not 
dare to appear. But he found himself, almost in 
an instant, deprived of these succours by means 
of that very eagerness he discovered to have them 
all at once. 

Accustomed, in his hereditary dominions, to the 
exercise of absolute power, he too fondly imagined 
that he might govern in Poland as he did iu Saxo- 
ny. The beginning of his reign raised malcon- 
tents. His first proceedings provoked the party 
that had opposed his election, and alienated al- 
most all the rest of the nation. The Poles mur- 
mured to see the towns filled with Saxon garrisons, 
and their frontiers lined with Saxon troops. This 
nation, more anxious to preserve its liberty than 
to attack its neighbours, considered the war with 



«f HISTORY OF 

Sweden, and tlie irruption into Livonia, as entei* 
prises by no means advantageous to the republic. 
It is very difficult to hinder a free people from see- 
ing their true interest. The Poles were sensible, 
that if this war, undertaken without their consent, 
should prove unsuccessful, their country, open on 
all sides, would become a prey to the king of 
Sweden ; and that should it be crowned with suc- 
cess, they would be enslaved by their own king, 
who being master of Livonia, as well as of Saxo- 
ny, would shut up Poland between these two 
states. In this alternative, either of becoming 
slaves to the king, whom they had elected, or of 
being pillaged by Charles XI L who was justly in- 
censed, they raised a clamour against the war, 
which they believed to be declared rather against 
themselves than against Sweden. They consider- 
ed the Saxons and the Muscovites as the forgers 
of their chains ; and observing soon after that the 
king of Sweden had overcome every thing that 
opposed his progress, and was advancing with a 
victorious army into the heart of Lithuania, they 
loudly exclaimed against their sovereign, and with 
80 much the greater freedom as he was unfortu- 
nate. 

Lithuania was at that time divided into two 
parties, that of the princes of Sapieha, and that of 
Oginsky. The animosity between these two fac- 
tions, occasioned at first by private quarrels, had 
at last been inflamed into a civil war. The king 
of Sweden engaged the princes of Sapieha in his 
interest ; and Oginsky, being poorly supported 
by the Saxons, found his party almost annihilated. 
The Lithuanian army, reduced by these troubles 
and the want of money, to an inconsiderable num- 
ber, was partly dispersed by the conquerors. 
The few that still held out for the king of Poland 
were separated into small bodies of fugitive 



CHARLES XII. 63 

troops, who wandered up and down the country 
and subsisted by spoil. Augustus beheld no- 
thing in Lithuania but the weakness of his own 
party, the hatred of his subjects, and a hostile 
army, conducted by a young king, incensed, vic- 
torious, and implacable. 

'i'here was indeed an army in Poland ; but in- 
stead of six and thirty thousand men, the number 
prescribed by the law, it did not amount to eigh- 
teen thousand ; and it was not only ill-paid and 
Hl-armed, but the generals were as yet undeter- 
mined what course to take. 

The only resource of the king was, to order the 
nobility to follow him ; but he durst not expose 
himself to the mortification of a refusal, which, 
by discovering his weakness too plainly, would of 
consequence have increased it. 

In this state of trouble and uncertainty, all the 
palatinates of the kingdom desired the king to 
call a diet ; in the same manner as in England, 
during times of danger, all the bodies of the state 
present addresses to the sovereign, entreating 
him to convoke a parliament. Augustus had 
more need of an army than a diet, in which the 
actions of kings are severely canvassed. How- 
ever, that he might not incense the nation beyond 
a possibility of reconciliation, he found it neces- 
sary to assemble a diet ; which was accordingly 
appointed to be held at Warsaw, on the second 
of December, 1701. He soon perceived that 
Charles XII. had at least as much power in this 
assembly as himself. Those who favoured the 
Sapieha, the Lubomirsky and their friends, the 
palatine Leczinsky, treasurer of the crown, and 
especially the partizans of the princes Sobieski, 
were all cf them secretly attached to the king of 
Sweden. 

The most considerable of these partizans, and 



64 HISTORY OF 

the most dangerous to the king of Poland, was 
cardinal Hadjousky, archbishop of Gnesna, pri- 
mate of the kingdom, and president of the diet. 
He was a man full of artifice and cunning, and 
entirely under the influence of an ambitious wo- 
man, who was called by the Swedes madam Car- 
dinaless, and who was egging him on to intrigue 
and faction. King John Sobieski, the predeces- 
sor of Augustus, had first made him bishop of 
Warmia and vice-chancellor of the kingdom. 
Radjousky, when no more than a bishop, had ob- 
tained the cardinal's hat by the favour of the same 
prince. 'I'his dignity soon opened his way to the 
primacy ; and thus by uniting in his own person 
whatever can impose upon mankind, he was able 
to undertake the most arduous enterprises, with- 
out incurring the least danger. 

After the death of John, he employed all his 
interest to raise prince James Sobieski to the 
throne ; but the torrent of public hatred ran so 
strong against the father, notwithstanding the 
eminent qualities of which he was possessed, that 
it entirely excluded the son from that dignity. 
After vhis, the cardinal-primate joined his endea- 
vours with those of the abb6 de Polignac, the 
French ambassador, to procure the crown to the 
prince of Conti, who was actually elected. But the 
money and troops of Saxony defeated all his ne- 
gotiations. AtlasthesuflFeredliimself tobe drawn 
over to the party that crowned the elector of Saxo- 
ny, and paiiently waited for an opportunity of sow- 
ing dissension between the new king and the na- 
tion. 

The victories of Charles XII. the protector of 
prince James Sobieski, the civil war in Lithuania, 
the general alienation of men's minds from king 
Augustus ; all these circumstances made the car- 
dinal-primate believe, that the time was now como 



CHARLES XII. 65 

when he might safely send back Augustus into 
Saxony, and open for king John's son the way to 
the throne. This prince, foni.erly the innocent 
object of the hatred of the Poles, was now become 
their darling, e^er since the time that Augustus 
hdd lost the public favour ; but he durst not as yet 
entertain the most distant hopes of so great a re- 
volution, of which, however, the cardinal was al- 
ready laying the foundation. 

At first, he seemed desirous of effecting a recon- 
ciliation between the king and the republic; and 
dispatched circular letters, dictated in appearance 
by the spirit of charity and concord ; a common 
and well known snare, in which, however, the 
people are alw^ays caught. He wrote an affecting 
etter to the king of Sweden, conjuring him, in the 
name of that Saviour, whom all Christians adore, 
to give peace to Poland and her king. Charles 
XII. answered the^ntentions of the cardinal rather 
than his words. Meanwhile he remained with 
his victorious army in the great duchy of Lithu- 
ania, declaring, that he would not disturb the 
diet ; that he made war against Augustus and the 
Saxons, and not against the Poles ; and that, far 
from attacking, became only to deliver them from 
oppression. These letters and these answers were 
calculated for the public. The emissaries that 
were continually going and coming between the 
cardinal and the count Piper, and the secret meet- 
ings held at the prelate's house, were the springs 
that regulated the motions of the diet. They pro- 
posed to dispatch an embassy to Charles XII. and 
unanimously required of the king, that he should 
bring no more Muscovites upon their frontiers, 
and that he should send back his Saxon troops. 

The bad fortune of Augustus had already done 
what the diet demanded of him. The league, se- 
cretly concluded with the Muscovites at Birsen, 



6b HISTORY OF 

was nov/ become as useless as it had once ap- 
peared formidable. He was far from being able 
to send the czar the fifty thousand Germans, 
■whom he had promised to raise in the empire. 
The czar himself, a dangerous neighbour to Po- 
land, was in no haste to assist a divided kingdom, 
from whose misfortunes he hoped to derive some 
advantage. He contented himself with sending 
twenty thousand Muscovites into Lithuania, who 
did more mischief than the Swedes, flying every 
where before the conqueror, and ravaging the 
lands of the Poles ; till at last being pursued by 
the Swedish generals, and finding no more to pil- 
lage, they returned in shoals to their own country. 
With regard to the shattered remains of the Saxon 
army that was beat at Riga, Augustus sent them 
to winter and recruit in Saxony ; hoping by this 
sacrifice, involuntary as it was, to regain the af- 
fection of the Poles, who were so highly icceused 
against him. 

The war now was turned into intrigues. The 
diet was split into almost as many factions as 
there were palatines. One day the interests of 
king Augustus prevailed ; the next they were dis- 
regarded. Every one called out for liberty and 
justice ; and yet no one knew what was liberty 
and justice. The time was spent in private ca- 
bals and harangues. The diet neither knew what 
they would be at, nor what they ought to do. 
Great companies seldom steer the right course in 
times of public commotions ; because the factious 
are bold, and the virtuous are commonly diffident. 
The diet broke up in a tumultuous manner on the 
17th of February, 1702, after having spent tliree 
months in cabals, without coming to any fixed 
resolution. The senators, consisting of the p<ala- 
tines and bishops, remained at Warsaw. The 
senate cf Poland has a right of making laws pro- 



CHARLES XII. 67 

vifiionally, which the diets seldom disannul. This 
body being less numerous, and accustomed to 
business, was far less tumultuous, and decided 
witli greater dispatch 

They decreed that the embassy, which was 
proposed in the diet, should be sent lo the king 
of Sweden ; and that the pospolite should take to 
arms, and hold themselves in readiness at all 
events. They made several regulations for 
quelling the commotions in Lithuania, and for 
diminishing the authority of the king, though less 
to be dreaded than that of Charles XIL 

Augustus rather chose to receive hard laws 
from his conqueror than from his subjects. He 
resolved to sue for a peace to the king of Sweden, 
and to conclude a secret treaty with that monarch. 
This was a step which he was obliged to conceal 
from the senate, whom he considered as an 
enemy still more untractable than Charles. As 
the affair was of a very delicate nature, he en- 
trusted it to the countess of Konigsmark, a 
Swedish lady of high birth, to whom he was at 
that time attached. This is the lady whose 
brother became so famous by his unfortunate 
death, and whose son commanded the French 
armies with so much glory and success. Cele- 
brated as she was for her wit and beauty, she 
was more capable than any minister of bringing 
a negotiation to a happy period. Moreover, as 
she had an estate in the dominions of Charles 
XII. and had resided a long time at his court, 
she had a very plausible pretext for waiting upon 
bim. Accordingly she repaired to the Swedish 
camp in Lithuania, and immediately applied to 
count Piper, who too rashly promised her an au- 
dience of his master. The countess, among 
those perfections which rendered her the most 
amiable woman in Europe, possessed the happy 



68 HISTORY OF 

talent of speaking the language of several cotm» 
tries she had never seen, with as much ease and 
propriety as if she had been a native. She even 
amused herself sometimes in writing French 
verses, which one might have easily mistaken for 
the production of a person born at Versailles. 
Those which she composed on Charles XII. 
are not beneath the dignity of history to men- 
tion. She introduced the heathen gods praising 
him for his different virtues. The piece con* 
eluded thus ; 

Evfin, chacnn des Dieux diseourant d sa gloire, 
Le plagait par avnnce au Temple de Memoire ; 
Mais Vnus ni Bacchus n'en dirent pas un mot. 

The hero's acts while other gods proclaim. 
And praise, and promise him immortal fame ; 
Silent sit Bacchus and the qaeen of lore. 

All her wit and charms were lost upon such a man 
as the king of Sweden, who constantly refused to 
see her. She therefore resolved to throw herself 
in his way, as he rode out to take the air, which 
he frequently did. In this attempt she at last 
succeeded. She met him one day in a very nar- 
row path ; and the moment she observed him, 
came down from her coach. The king made hep 
a low bow, without speaking a word to her, 
turned about his horse, and rode back in an in- 
stant. And thus the only advantage which the 
countess of Konigsmark gained from her journey 
was the pleasure of seeing that the king of 
Sweden feared nobody but her. 

The king of Poland was therefore obliged to 
throw himself into the arms of the senate. He 
made them two proposals, which were laid before 
them by the palatine of Marienburg ; the one, 
that they shcnild leave to him the disposal of the 
republic, in which case he would engage to pay 



CHARLES XII. 69 

the soldiers two quarters advance out of his own 
revenue ; the other, that they should allow him to 
bring back twelve thousand Saxons into Poland. 
The cardinal-piimate returned him an answer as 
severe as the king of Sweden's refusal. He told 
the palatine of Marienburg, in the name of the 
assembly, ' That they had resolved to send an 
embassy to Charles XII. and that he would not 
advise him to bring back any Saxons.' 

In this extremity the king was desirous of pre- 
serving at least the appearance of the royal au- 
thority. He sent one of his chamberlains to wait 
tipon Charles, and to learn from him where, and 
in what manner, his Swedish majesty would be 
pleased to receive the embassy of the king his 
master, and of the republic. Unhappily they 
had forgot to ask from the Swedes a passport for 
the chamberlain. The king of Sweden, instead 
of giving him an audience, caused him to be 
thrown into prison, saying, ' That he expected 
to receive an embassy from the republic, and not 
from Augustus.' 

After this, Charles having left garrisons in some 
towns in Lithuania, advanced beyond Grodno, a 
city well known in Europe for the diets that are 
held there, but ill built and worse fortified, 

A few miles on the other side of Grodno, he 
met the embassy of the republic, which consisted 
of five senators. They desired, in the first place, 
to have the ceremony of their introduction pro- 
perly regulated, a thing with which the king was 
utterly unacquainted. They demanded, that the 
senate should be complimented with the title of 
Most Serene, and that the coaches of the king 
and senators should be sent to meet them. They 
were told in answer, ' That the republic should 
be styled Illustrious, and not Most Serene ; that 
the king never used any coaches ; that he had 



70 HISTORY OF 

plenty of officers in his retinue, but no senators ; 
that a lieutenant-general should be sent to meet 
them ; and that they might come on their own 
horses.' 

Charles XII. received them in his tewt with 
some appearance of military grandeur. Their 
-conversation was full of caution and reserve. 
They said they were afraid of Charles XII. and 
did not love Augustus ; but that it would be a 
shame for them to take the crown, in obedience 
to the orders of a stranger, from the head of that 
prmce whom they had elected. Nothing wa« 
finally concluded ; and Charles XII. gave them 
to understand, that he would settle all disputes at 
Warsaw. 

His march was preceded bj a manifesto> 
which the cardinal and his party spread over 
Poland in the space o eight days. By this writ- 
ing, Charles invited all the Poles to join him in 
revenging their own quarrel, and endeavoured to 
persuade them that his interest and theirs were 
the same. They were, however, very different j; 
but the manifesto, supported by a powerful army» 
by the disorder of the senate, and by the ap- 
proach of the conqueror ; made a deep impres- 
sion on the minds of the people. They were 
obliged to own Charles for their protector, be- 
cause he was resolved to be so ; and happy was 
it for them, that he contented himself with thi» 
title. 

The senators, who opposed Augustus, pub- 
lished this manifesto aloud, even in the royal 
presence. 

The few who adhered to him observed a pro- 
found silence. At length, intelligence being 
brought that Charles was advancing by long 
marches, every one prepared to depart in a hurry» 
The cardinal left V^arsaw among tho Bjsstu. 



CHARLES XIT. 71 

The greatest part fled with precipitation ; some 
retired to their country-seats, there to wait the 
nnravelling of this perplexed and intricate affair ; 
others went to arm their friends. Nobody re- 
mained with the king but the ambassadors of the 
«mperor and the czar, the pope's nuncio, and a 
few bishops and palatines who were attached to 
his fortunes. He was forced to fly, though no- 
thing as yet decided in his favour. Before his 
departure, he hastened to hold a council with the 
small body of senators who still represented the 
senate. Zealous as these were for his interest, 
they were nevertheless Poles ; they had all con- 
ceived such an utter aversion to the Saxon troops, 
that they durst not grant him a liberty of recall- 
ing more than six thousand of them for his de- 
fence ; and they even voted that these six thou- 
sand should be commanded by the grand general 
of Poland, and be immediately sent back upon 
the conclusion of a peace. The armies of the 
republic they left entirely to his disposal. 

After this decree of the senate, the king left 
Warsaw, too weak to resist his enemies, and 
but little satisfied even with the conduct of his 
friends. He immediately published orders for 
assembling the pospolite and the two armies, 
which were little more than empty names. He 
had nothing to hope for in Lithuania, of which 
the Swedes were in possession. The army of 
Poland, reduced to a handful of men, was in 
want of arms and provisions, and had no great 
inclination to the war. Most of the nobility, in- 
timidated, irresolute, and disafiFected, remained 
at their country-seats. In vain did the king, au- 
thorised by the laws of the land, command every 
gentleman, under pain of death to take up arms 
and follow him. It was even become a proble- 
matical point, whether or not they ought to obey 



72 HISTORY OF 

him. His cKief dependence was upon tbe troops 
of the electorate, where the form of government 
being wholly despotic, he was under no appre- 
hensions of being disobeyed. He had already 
given secret orders for the march of twelve thou- 
sand Saxons, who were advancing with great 
expedition. He likewise recalled the eight thou- 
sand men whom he had promised to the empe- 
ror in his war against France, and whom the ne- 
cessity of his affairs nov/ obliged him to withdraw. 
To introduce so many Saxons into Poland, was, 
in effect, to alienate the affections of all his sub- 
jects, and to violate the law made by his own 
party, which allowed only of six thousand. But 
he well knew, that, if he proved victorious, they 
would not dare to complain, and if he should be 
conquered, they would never forgive him for hav- 
ing introduced even the six thousand. While the 
soldiers were arriving in troops, and while he 
was flying from one palatinate to another, and 
assembling the nobility who adhered to him, the 
king of Sweden reached Warsaw, on the 5th of 
May, 170ii. The gates were opened to him at the 
first summons. He dismissed the Polish gar- 
rison, disbanded the city-guard, posted guards 
of his own in ^11 the convenient places, and 
ordered the inhabitants to deliver up their arms. 
Satisfied with having disarmed them, and un- 
willing to provoke them by any unnecessary 
severities, he demanded a contribution of no 
more than one hundred thousand livres. Augustus 
was then assembling his forces at Cracow, and 
was greatly surprised to seethe cardinal -primate 
arrive among the rest. This man affected to 
maintain the decorum of his character to the last, 
and to dethrone his king with all the appearance 
of the most respectful behaviour. He gave him 
to understand that the king of Sweden seemed 



CHARLES XII. 73 

▼ery well inclined to come to a reasonable ac- 
commodation, and humbly begged leave to wait 
upon that monarch. Augustus granted him what 
he could not refuse, that is, the liberty of hurting 
himself. 

'J'he cardinal-primate immediately repaired to 
the king of Sweden, before whom he had not as 
yet ventured to appear. He saw him at Praag, 
not far from Warsaw, but without any of those ce- 
remonies which had been observed in introducing 
the ambassadors of the republic. He found the 
conqueror clad in a coal of coarse blue cloth, with 
gilt brass buttons, jack boots, and buff skin glovea 
that reached up to his elbows. He was in a room 
without hangings, attended by the duke of Hol- 
stein, count Piper, his first minister, and several 
general officers. The king advanced a few steps 
to meet the cardinal ; they talked together stand- 
ing for about a quarter of an hour ; Charles put 
an end to the conference, by saj'ing aloud, ' I 
will never give the Poles peace, till they have 
elected a new king.' The cardinal, who expected 
Buch a declaration, caused it to be immediately 
notified to all the palatinates, assuring them, that 
he was extremely sorry for it, but represented to 
them, at the same time, the absolute necessity 
they were under of complying with the conqueror's 
request. 

Upon receiving this intelligence, the king of 
Poland plainly perceived, that he must either lose 
his crown, or preserve it by a battle; and he ex- 
erted his utmost efforts in order to succeed in the 
decision of this important quarrel. All his Saxon 
troops were arrived from the frontiers of Saxony, 
The nobility of the palatinate of Cracow, where 
he still remained, came in a body to offer him their 
service. He exhorted them to remember the oathe. 
they had taken j and they promised to shed the 



74 HISTORY OF 

last drop of their blood in support of his cause. 
Strengthened by these succours, and by the troops 
which bore the name of the army of the crown, 
he went, for the first time, in quest of the king of 
Sweden ; nor was he long in finding him ; for that 
prince was already advancing towards Cracow. 

The two kings met on the 13th of July, 1702, in 
a spacious plain near Clissau, between Warsaw 
and Cracow. Augustus had near four-and-twenty 
thousand men ; Charles XII. had not above 
twelve thousand. The battle began by a general 
discharge of the artillery. At the first valley of 
the Saxons, the duke of Holstein, who command- 
ed the Swedish cavalry, a young prince of great 
courage and virtue, received a cannon-bal} in his 
reins. The king asked if he was killed, and was 
answered in the affirmative. He made no reply : 
a few tears fell from his eyes : he covered his face 
with his hands for a moment ; and then of a 
sudden, spurring on his horse with all his might, 
he rushed into the thickest of the enemy at the 
head of the guards. 

The king of Poland did everything that could 
be expected from a prince who fought for his 
crown. Thrice in person did he rally his troops, 
and lead them up to the charge ; but the Saxons 
only could be said to fight for him : the Poles, 
who formed his right wing, fled to a man, at the 
very beginning of the battle ; some through fear, 
and others through disaffection. The good for- 
tune of Charles XII. carried all before it ; he 
gained a complete victory. He took possession 
of the enemy's camp, their colours and artillery ; 
and Augustus's military-chest fell into his hands. 
He halted not a moment on the field of battle, 
but marched directly to Cracow, pursuing the 
king of Poland, who fled before him. 

The citizens of Cracow were bold enough to 



CHARLES XII. 75 

shut the gates \ipon the conqueror. He caused 
them to be burst open. The gairison did not 
Tenture to fire a single gun ; but were driven with 
whips and canes into the castle, into which the 
king entered pell-mell with them. Charles, ob- 
serving an officer of the artillery going to fire a 
cannon, ran up to him, and snatched the match 
out of his hand. The commander fell on his 
knees before him. Three Swedish regiments 
were lodged at free quarters among the citizens, 
and the town was taxed with a contribution of 
a hundred thousand rix-dollars. The count de 
Steinbock, who was appointed governor of the 
city, being informed that some treasures were 
hid in the tombs of the Polish kings, in St. Ni- 
cholas' church at Cracow, caused them to be 
opened. Nothing was found there but some or- 
naments of gold and silver, belonging to the 
churches. Of these he took a part ; and Charles 
XII. even sent a golden cup to one of the Swedish 
churches ; an action that might have raised the 
Polish Catholics against him, had any thing 
been able to withstand the terror of his arms. 

He left Cracow with a determined resolution 
to pursue Augustus without intermission. At the 
distance of a few miles from the city, his horse 
fell and broke his thighbone. They were obliged 
to carry him back to Cracow, where he remained 
confined to his bed for six weeks, in the hands of 
the surgeons. This accident gave Augustus a 
little respite. He forthwith caused it to be 
spread abroad through Poland and Germany, 
that Charles XII. was killed by the fall. This 
report, which gained credit for some time, filled 
the minds of all men with doubt and apprehen- 
sion. During this interval, he assembled at Ma- 
rienburg, and then at Lublin, all the orders of the 
kingdom, which had been already convoked at 



76 HISTORY OF 

Sendomir. The assembly was very full, as ^ew 
palatinates refused to send their deputies thither. 
He regained the affections of most of them by 
presents and promises, and by that affability, 
without which absolute kings caJinot be beloved, 
nor elective kings maintain themselves on the 
throne. The diet were soon undeceived con- 
cerning the false report of the king of Sweden's 
death ; but that large body was already put ia 
motion, and suffered itself to be c?irried along 
by the impulse it had received ; all the members 
swore to continue faithful to their sovereign : so 
subject to change are all great companies ! Even 
the cardinal-primate himself, who still pretended 
a regard for Augustus, repaired to the diet of 
Lublin ; where he kissed the king's hand, and 
readily took the oath as well as the other members. 
The substance of the oath was, that they had 
never attempted, nor ever would attempt any 
thing prejudicial to the interest of Augustus. 
The king excused the cardinal from the first part 
of the oath, and the prelate blushed while he 
swore to the last. The result of all the delibe- 
rations of thisdiet was, that the republic of Poland 
should maintain an army of fifty thousand men 
at their own expense, for the service of their so- 
vereign ; that they should allow the Swedes six 
weeks' time to declare, whether they were for 
peace or war ; and the same time to the princes 
of Sapieha, the original authors of the troubles in 
Lithuania, to come and ask pardon from the king 
of Poland. 

In the mean time Charles XII. being cured of 
his wound, overturned all their deliberations. Un- 
alterably fixed in his resolution of forcing the 
Poles to dethrone their king with their own hands, 
he caused a new assembly to be convoked at 
Warsaw, by the intrigues of the cardinal, in op- 



CHARLES XII. 77 

position to that of Lublin. His generals repre- 
scTited to him, that this negotiation might pos- 
sibly be iuvolved in endless delays, and by that 
means be rendered ineffectual ; that, in the mean 
time, the Muscovites were everyday becoming a 
more equal match for the troops which he had left 
in Livonia and Ingria ; that the skirmishes which 
frequently happened between the Swedes and 
Russians in these provinces did not always turn 
out to the advantage of the former ; and, finally, 
that his own presence might soon be necessary in 
those quarters. Charles, as steady in the prose- 
cution of his schemes, as he was brisk and vigo- 
rous in action, replied : ' Should it oblige me to 
remain here for fifty years, 1 will not depart till 
I have dethroned the king of Poland.' 

He left the assembly of Warsaw to combat that 
of Lublin, by their speeches and writings, and to 
justify their proceedings by the la""^ of the king- 
dom; laws always equivocal, which each party 
interpret according to their pleasure, and which 
success alone can render incontestable. As for 
himself, having reinforced his victorious troops 
with six thousand horse and eight thousand foot, 
which he had received from Sweden, he marched 
against the remains of the Saxon army^ which he 
Lad beat at Clissau, and which hud found time to 
rally and recruit, while his fall from his horse had 
confined him to his bed. This army shunned his 
approach, and retired towards Prussia, to the 
north-west of Warsaw. The river Bug lay be- 
tween hira and the enemy. Charles swam across 
it at the head of his cavalry : the infantry went 
to look, for a ford somewhat higher. He came up 
with tlie Saxons on the first of May, 170.5, at a 
placecalled Fultesk. General Stenaucommanded 
them to the number of about ten thousand. The 
king of Sweden, in his precipitate march, had 



rS HISTORY OF 

brought no more than the same number alongwitb 
him, confident tliat a less number would be suf- 
ficient. So great was the terror of his arms, that 
one half of the Saxon troops tied at his approach, 
without waiting for the battle. General btenau, 
with two regiments, kept iiis ground for a moment; 
but was soon hurried along in the general flight 
of his army, which was dispersed before it was 
vanquished, 'i'he Swedes did not take above a 
thousand prisoners, nor kill above six hundred 
men, having more difficulty in pursuing than in 
defeating the enemy. 

Augustus having now nothing left him but the 
shattered remains of his Saxons, who were every 
where defeated, retired in haste to Thorn, an 
ancient city of Royal Prussia, situa-ted on the 
Vistula, and under the protection of the Poles. 
Charles immediately prepared to besiege it. The 
king of Poland, not thinking himself secure in this 
place, withdrew from it, and flew into every cornel 
of Poland, where he could possibly find any 
soldiers, and into which the Swedes had not as 
yet penetrated. Bleanwhile Charles, amidst so 
many rapid marches, swimming across rivers, and 
hurried along with his infantry mounted behind 
his cavalry, had not been able to bring up his 
cannon to fhorn ; he was therefore obliged to wait 
till a train of a-itillery should be brought from 
Sweden by sea. 

While he tarried here, he fixed his quarters at 
the distance of a few miles from the city, in re- 
connoitring which he fretjuently approached too 
near the ramparts. In these dangerous excur- 
sions, the plain dress which he wore was of greater 
service to him than he imagined, as it prevented 
his being distinguished and marked out by the 
enemy, who would not have failed to fire upon 
him. One day, having advanced too near the 



CHARLES XII. 79 

fortifications, attended by one of his generals call- 
ed Lieven, who was dressed in a blue coat trim- 
med with gold, and fearing lest the general should 
be too easily distinguished, he ordered him to 
•walk behind him. To this he was prompted by 
that greatness of soul which was so natural to him, 
that it even prevented his reflecting on the im- 
minent danger to which he exposed his own life, 
in order to preserve that of his subject. Lieven 
perceiving his error too late, in having puton a re- 
markable dress, which endangered all those who 
were near him, and being equally concerned for 
the king wherever he was, hesitated for a moment 
whether or nut he should obey him. In the midst 
of this contest, the king takes him by the arm, 
puts himself before him, and screens him with his 
body. At that instant, a cannon-ball taking them 
in flank, struck the general dead upon the very 
spotwhich the king bad hardly quitted. The death 
of this man, killed exactly in his stead, and be- 
cause he had endeavoured to save him, contri- 
buted not a little to confirm him in the opinion, 
■which he always entertained of absolute predes- 
tination ; and made him believe that his fate, 
which had preserved him in such a singular man- 
ner, reserved him for the execution of greater un- 
dertakings. 

Every thing succeeded with him : his negoti- 
ations and his arms weie equally fortunate. He 
was present, as it were, in every part of Poland. 
His grand general ilenschild was in the heart of 
the kingdom with a large body of troops. About 
thirty tlw)n sand Swedes, under different generals, 
were posted towards the north and east upon the 
frontiers of Muscovy, and withstood the united 
eflforts of the whole Russian empire ; and Charles 
was in the wet-t, at the other end of Poland, with 
the flower of his army. 



80 HISTORY OF 

The king of Denmark tied up by tbe treaty of 
Travendal, which his weakness hat! hindered him 
from breaking, remained quiet. That prudent 
monarch did not venture to discover the disgust 
he felt at seeing the king of Sweden so near his 
dominions. At a greater distance towards the 
south-west, between the rivers Elbe and VVeser, 
lay the duchy of Bremen, the most remote of al) 
the ancient conquests of the Sv/edes. This coun- 
try was filled with strong garrisons, and opened 
to the conqueror a free passage into Saxony and 
the empire. Thus, from the German Ocean almost 
to the mouth of the Boristhenes, comprehending 
the whole breadth of Europe, and even to the gates 
of iMoscow, ail was in consternation ; and every 
one was daily expecting a general revolution. 
Charles's ships, which were now masters of the 
Baltic, were employed in transporting to Sweden 
the prisoners he had taken in Poland. Sweden, 
undisturbed in the midst of these mighty commo- 
tions, enjoyed the sweets of peace, and shared in 
the glory of its king, without bearing the burden 
of the war ; inasmuch as its victorious troops were 
paid and maintained at the expense of the con- 
quered. 

While all the northern powers were thus kept 
in awe by the arms of Charles XU. the town of 
Dantzic ventured to incur his displeasure. Four- 
teen frigates and forty transports were bringing 
the king areinforcementofsix thousand men, with 
cannon and ammunition, to form the siege of 
Thorn. These succours must necessarily pass up 
the Weissel. At the mouth of this river stands 
Dantzic, a free and weahhv town, which, together 
with Thorn and Elbing, enjoys the same privi« 
leges in Poland as the imperial towns possess in 
Germany. Its liberty hath been alternately at- 
tacked by the Danes, the Swedes, and some Ger- 



CHARLES XII. 81 

man princes ; and nothing hath preserved it from 
bondage but the mutual jealousy of these rival 
powers. Count Ste iibock, one of the Swedish 
generals, assembled the magistrates in the king's 
name, and deraaiuled a passage for the troops and 
ammunition. The ntagistrates were guilty of a 
piece of imprudence very common with those who 
treat with people more powerful than themselves ; 
they durst neither r^^tuse nor grant his demands. 
General Steinbock o'diged them to grant more 
than he had at first demanded. He exacted from 
the city a contribution of a hundred thousand 
crowns, as a punishment for their imprudent re- 
fusal. At last the recruits, the cannon, and am- 
munition, being arrived before Thorn, the siege 
was begun on the ^^d of September. 

Robel, governor of the place, defended it for a 
month with a garrison of five thousand men. At 
the expiration ot that term he was obliged to sur- 
render at discretion. 'Jhe garrison were made 
prisoners of war, and transported to Sweden. 
Robel v^s presented to the kmg imarmed. That 
prince, who never lost an opportunity of honour- 
ing merit in his enemies, gave him a sword with 
his own hand, made him a handsome present iu 
money, and dismissed him on his parole. But the 
poor and paltry town was condemned to pay forty 
thousand crowns ; an excessive contribution for 
such a place. 

Elbing, built on an arm of the Weissel, founded 
by the teutonic knights, and annexed likewise to 
Poland, did not profit by the misconduct of the 
Dantzicers, but hesitated too long about granting 
a passage to the Swedish troops. It was more 
severely punished tlr.m Dantzic. On the iSth of 
December, Cltarles entered it at the head of four 
thousand men, with bayonets fixed to the ends of 
their muskets. 'Jhe inhabitants, struck with ter- 
D2 



82 HISTORY OF 

ror, fell upon their knees in the streets, and beg- 
ged for mercy. Ke caused them all to be dis- 
armed ; quartered his soldiers upon them ; and 
then having assembled the magistrates, enacted 
that same day a contribution of two hundred and 
sixty thousand crowns. There were in the town 
two hundred pieces of cannon and four hundred 
thousand weight of powder, which he likewise 
seized. A battle gained would not have procured 
him so many advantages. All these successes 
paved the way for the dethroning of Augustus. 

Hardly had the cardinal taken an oath that he 
vrould make no attempts against his sovereign, 
when he repaired to the assembly of Warsaw, 
always under the specious pretence of peace. 
When he arrived there he talked of nothing but 
obedience and ( oncord, thougli he was accom- 
panied by a number of soldiers whom he had 
raised on his own estate. At last he threw off 
the mask ; and, on the 14th of February, 1704, 
declared, in the name of the assembly, 'That 
Augustus, elector of Saxony, was incapable of 
wearing the crown of Poland.' All the members 
with one voice pronounced the throne to be va- 
cant. It was the intention of the king of Sweden, 
and consequently of the diet, to raise prince James 
Sobieski to the throne of king John his father. 
James Sobieski was then at Breslaw in Silesia, 
waiting with impatience for the crown which his 
father had worn. While he was one day a hunt- 
ing a few leagues from Breslaw, in company with 
prince Constantine, one of his brothers, thirty 
Saxon horsemen, sent privately by king Augustus, 
issued suddenly from a neighbouring wood, sur- 
rounded the two princes, and carried them oflF 
without resistance. They had prepared fresh 
horses, upon which they conducted them to Leip- 
sic, and committed them to close custody. I'his 



CHARLES XII. 83 

stroke disconcerted the measures of Charles, Uie 
cardinal, and the assembly of Warsaw. 

Fortune, which sports herself with crowned 
heads, exposed A ugustus, almost at the same time, 
to the danger of being taken himself. He was at 
table, three leagues from Cracow, relying upon an 
advanced guard which was posted at some dis- 
tance, when all of a sudden general Renschild ap- 
peared, after having carried off the guard. The 
king of Poland liad but just time to get on horse- 
back, with ten others. General Renschild pur- 
sued him for four days, just upon the point of 
seizing him every moment. The king fled to Sen- 
domir : the Swedish general pursued him thither ; 
and it was only by a piece of good fortune that 
he made his escape. 

Meanwhile the king's party and that of the 
cardinal treated each other as traitors to their 
country. The army of the crown was divided 
between the two factions. Augustus, being at 
last obliged to accept of assistance from the Rus- 
sians, was sorry that he had not applied to them 
sooner. One v/hile he flew into Saxony, where 
his resources were exhausted ; at another he re- 
turned to Poland, where no one durst serve him : 
while in the mean time the king of Sweden, vic- 
torious and unmolested, ruled in Poland with un- 
controlled authority. 

Count Piper, who was as great a politician as 
his master was a hero, advised Charles XII. to 
take the crown of Poland to himself. He repre- 
sented how easy it would be to accomplish such 
a scheme with a victorious army, and a power- 
ful party in the heart of the kingdom, which was 
already subdued. He tempted him with the title 
of ' Defender of the Evangelic Religion ;' a name 
which flattered the ambition of Charles. It would 
be easy, he said, to effect in Poland what Gus- 



84 HISTORY OF 

tavus Vasa had effected in Sweden ; to establish 
the Lutheran religion, and to break the chains of 
the people, who were now held in slavery by the 
nobility and clergy. Charlt-s vit-liled to the temp- 
tation for a moment ; but ^loiy was his idol. To 
it he sacrificed his own inTeie>t, atj<i the pleasure 
he would have enjoyed m taking Poland from 
the pope. He told count Piper, that he was 
much hapjuer in bestowinj^ liiau in gaining king- 
doms ; andaddedwith a simle, ' Youweremade 
to be the niinister of an Italian prince.' 

Charles was still near Ihom, in that part of 
Royal Prussia which belon, s to Poland. From 
thence he extended his viewb lo whac was pass- 
ing at Warsaw, and kept all the neighbouring 
powers in awe. Prince Alexaiider, brother of the 
two Sobieskies who were carried info Silesia, eame 
to implore his aid in revenging his wrongs. Charles 
granted his desire the more readily, as he thought 
he could easily gratify it. and that, at the same 
time, he should be avenging himself. But being 
extremely desirous of giving Poland a king, he 
advised Prince Alexander to mount the throne, 
from which fortune seemed deterndned to exclude 
his brother. Little did he exf)ect a refusah 
Prince Alexander told him, that nothing should 
ever induce him to take an advantage of his 
elder brother's misfortune. 'Ihe king of Sweden, 
count Piper, all his friends, and especially the 
young Palatine of Posnania, Stanislaus Lec- 
zinsky, pressed him to accept of the crown ; but 
he remained unmoved by all their importunities. 
The neighbouring princes were astonished to hear 
of this uncommon refusal ; and knew not which 
to admire most ; a king of Sweden who at twenty- 
two years of age, gave away the crown of Po- 
land, or Prince Alexander, who refused to ac- 
cept it. 



CHARLES XII. 



BOOK III. 

Stanislaus Leczinsty elected king of Poland. Death of 
the cardinal-primate. Skilful retn-at of general Scliul- 
lemburg. Exploits of the czar. I'ountlalion of Peters- 
burg, Battle of Travenstad. Cliarles enters Saxony. 
Peace of Altranstad. Augustus abdicates the crown 
in favour of Stanislaus. General Patkul, the czar's 
plenipotentiarj', is broke upon the wheel and quar- 
tered. Charles receives the ambassadors of foreign 
princes in Saxony : and goes to Dresden to visit Au- 
gustus before his departure. 

VOUNG Stanislaus Leczinsky was then de- 
puted by the assembly of VVars;iw to go to 
the king of Sweden, and give him an account of 
several differences which iiad arisen among them, 
since the time that prince .Tames was carried 
oflF. Stanislaus had a very engaging aspect, full 
of courage and sweetness, with an air of probity 
and frankness, which, of all external advantages, 
is certainly the greatest, and gives more weight 
to words than even eloquence itself. Charles 
was surprised to hear him talk with so much judg- 
ment of Augustus, the assembly, the cardinal- 
primate, and the different interests that divided 
Europe. King Stanislaus did me the honour to 
inform me, that he said to the king of Sweden in 
Latin, ' How can we elect a king, if the two 
princes, James and Constat) tine Sobieski, are 
held in captivity 1' and that Charles replied, 
'How can we deliver the republic if we don't 
elect a king V This conversation was the only in- 
trigue that placed Stanislaus on the throne. 
Charles prolonged the conversation, on purpose 
that he might the better sound the genius of the 
young deputy. After the audience, he said aloud, 
that he had not seen a man so fit to reconcile 
all parties. He irojnediateiy made inquiry into 



86 HISTORY OF 

the character of the palatine Leczinsky, and 
found that he was a man of great courage and 
inured to labour ; that he always lay on a kind of 
straw mattress, requiring no service from his do- 
mestics ; that he was temperate to a degree rarely 
known in that climate \ liberal with economy ; 
adored by his vassals ; and perhaps the only lord 
in Poland, who had any friends, at a time when 
men acknowledged no ties but those of interest 
and faction. This character, which in many par- 
ticulars resembled his own, determined him en- 
tirely. After the conference he said aloud, ' There 
is the man that shall always be my friend.' The 
meaning of which words was soon perceived to 
be, ' There is the man that shall be king.* 

As soon as the primate of Poland understood 
that Charles XTI. had nominated the palatine 
Leczinsky in much thf same manner as Alexan- 
der nominated Abdalonimus, he hastened to the 
king of Sweden, to try if possible to divert him 
from his resolution ; being desirous that the 
crown should devolve on one Lubomirsky. * But 
what have you to object against Stanislaus Lec- 
zinsky V said the conqueror. ' Sir,' said the pri- 
mate, 'he is too young.' — ' He is much about my 
age,' replied the king drily; and turning his 
back upon the prelate, immediately dispatched 
the count de floorn to acquaint the assembly of 
Warsaw, that they must choose a king in five days, 
and that Stanislaus Leczinsky must be the man. 
The count de Hoorn arrived on the 7 th of July, 
and fixed the l'2th for the day of election, with as 
much ease and indifference as if he had been or- 
dering the decampment of a battalion. The car- 
dinal-primate, disappointed of the fruit of so 
many intrigues, returned to the assembly, where 
he left no stone unturned to defeat an election in 
which he had no share. But the king of Sweden 



CHARLES XII. 87 

baring come incognito to Warsaw, he was ob- 
liged to hold his peace. All that the primate 
could do was to absent himself from the election : 
unable to oppose the conqueror, and unwilling to 
assist him, he confined himself to a useless neu- 
trality. 

Saturday toe 12th of July, the day fixed for 
the election, being come, the assembly met at 
three in the afternoon at Colo, the place appointed 
for the ceremony ; the bishop of Posnania acting 
as president, in the room of the cardinal-primate. 
He came attended by several gentlemen of the 
party. The count de Hoorn and two other ge- 
neral officers assisted publicly at the solemnity, 
as ambassadors extraordinary from Charles to 
the republic. The session lasted till nine in the 
evening ; and the bishop of Posnania put an end 
to it by declaring, in the name of the assembly, 
that Stanislaus was elected king of Poland. They 
all threw up their hat? into the air, and the shouts 
of acclamation stifled the cries of the opposers. 
It was of no service to the cardinal primate, or to 
theotherswho had resolvedto continue neuter, that 
they had absented themselves from the election ; 
they were all obliged next day to come and do 
homage to the new king: butthe greatest mortifica- 
tion to which they were subjected, was their being 
compelled to follow him to the king of Sweden's 
quarters. Charles paid the sovereign he had made 
all the honours due to a king of Poland ; and, to 
add the greater weight to his new dignity, he 
furnished him with a considerable sum of money, 
and a sufficient number of troops. 

Immediately after lids Ciiarles XII. departed 
from Warsaw, in order to finish the conquest of 
Poland. He had ordered his army to rendezvous 
before Leopold, the ca|)ital of the great palatinate 
of Russia, a place important in itself, and still 



88 HISTORY OF 

more so on account of the riches which it con- 
tained. It was bupj)osed it would hold out for 
fifteen days, by rne.ins of the fortifications with 
which Augustus had strengthened it. The con- 
queror sat down before it on the 5th of Septem- 
ber, and next day took it by assault. All those 
who presumed to make resistance Vv'ere put to 
the sword. The victorious troops, though mas- 
ters of the city, did not break their ranks to go 
a-pillaging. notwithstanding the immense trea- 
sures that were said to be concealed in Leopold. 
They drew up in order of battle in the great 
square ; where the leniaining part of the garrison 
came and surrendered themselves prisoners of 
war. The king published his orders by sound of 
trumpet, commanding under pain of death, all 
the inhabitants, v/ho had any effects belonging to 
Augustus or his adherents, to produce them be- 
fore night. The measures he took were so 
wisely concerted, that few ventured to disobey; 
and accordingly four hundred chests of gold and 
silver coin, of plate and other valuable effects, 
were brought to his majesty. 

I'he beginninsf of Srauislaus' reign was distin- 
guished by an event of a very different nature. 
Some business which absolutely required his pre- 
sence, had obliged him to remain at Warsaw, 
He had with him his mother, his wife, and his 
two daughters. The cardinal-primate, the bishop 
of Posnania, and some grandees of Poland, com- 
posed his new court. It was guarded by six 
thousand Poles, of the army of the crown, who 
had lately entered into his service, but whose 
fidelity had not yet been p»t to the trial. General 
Hoorn, governor of the town, had not above fif- 
teen hundred Swedes. The citizens of Warsaw 
were in a profound tranquillity ; and Stanislaus 
proposed setting out in a few days for the con- 



CHARLES XII. 89 

quest of Leopold ; when, all on a sudden, he was 
informed that a numerous army was approaching 
the city. This was king Augustus, who, by a 
fresh effort, and by one of the most dexterous 
inarches that ever general made, had eluded the 
king of Sweden, and was now coming with twenty 
thousand men to fall uj)on Warsaw, and carry 
off his rival. 

Warsaw was unfortified ; the Polish troops 
who defended it were not to be relied on ; Au- 
gustus held a correspondence with some of the 
citizens ; so that, had Stanislaus remained in it, 
he must certainly have been ruined. He sent 
back his family into Posnania, under a guard of 
Polish troops in whom he could most confide. 
In this confusion he thought he had lost his second 
daughter, who was about a year old, and who 
had been carried by her nurse into a neighbouring 
village, where she w;is soon after found in a 
manger, as Stanislaus himself hath since informed 
me. 'I'his is the same child whom fortune, after 
a variety of the most surprising vicissitudes, at 
last made queen of France. Several gentlemen 
took ditJ'erent roads. I he new i<ing immediately 
set out for the camp of Charles Xll. learning thus 
betimes to suffer disgrace, and forced to quit his 
capital six weeks after he had been advanced to 
the sovereignty, 

Augustus entered tlie capital like a provoked 
and victorious sovereign. The inhabitants, al- 
ready fleeced by the king of Sweden, were en- 
tirely ruined by Augustus 1 he cardinal's palace, 
and all the houses of the confederate lords, with 
all their effects, both iu town and country, were 
given to plunder. What was most extraordinary 
in this sudden revolution, the pope's nuncio who 
attended Augustus, demanded, m the name of 
his master, that the bisho]) of Posnania should be 



90 HISTORY OF 

delivered into his hands, as subject to the juris- 
diction of the court of Rome, both as a bishop 
and as the favourer of a prince who had been ad- 
vanced to the throne bv the arms of a Lutheran, 

The court of Rome, which hath always been 
endeavouring to increase its temporal power by 
means of the spiritual, had, long before this, esta- 
blished a kind of jurisdiction in Poland, at the 
head of which was the pope's nuncio. Its minis- 
ters never failed to avail themselves of every fa- 
vourable opportunity to extend their power, which 
is revered by the multitude, but always contested 
by men of sense. 1 hey claimed a right of judg- 
ing in all ecclesiastical causes ; and in times of 
trouble had usurped several other privileges, in 
which they maintained themselves till about the 
year 17!i'8, when these abuses were corrected ; 
abuses which are never reformed till they are be- 
come absolutely intolerable. 

Augustus, giad of an opportunity of punishing 
the bishop of Posnania in a decent manner, and 
willing to gratify the court of Rome, whose pre- 
tensions, however, he would have opposed on any 
other occasion, delivered the Polish prelate into 
the hands of the nuncio. 'J'he bishop, after having 
seen his house pillaged, was carried by the sol- 
diers to the lodgings of the Italian minister, and 
from thence sent into Saxony, where he ended his 
days. Count Hoorn bore the continual lire of the 
enemy in the castle, where he was shut uj), till at 
last the place being no longer tenable, he surren- 
dered himself with his fifteen hundred Swedes. 
This was the first advantage which Augustus 
gained, amidst the torrent of his bad fortune, over 
the victorious arms of his enemy. 

'J his last effort was the blaze of a fire that was 
just going out. His troops, which had been as- 
sembled in haste, consisted either of Poles, ready 



CHARLES XII, 91 

to forsake him on the first disgrace, or of Saxon 
recruits, who bad never seen a campaign ; or of 
vagabond Cossacks, more fit to distress the con- 
quered than to conquer : and all of them trembled 
at the bare mention of the king of Sweden's name. 

That conqueror, accompanied by Stanislaus, 
went in quest of his enemy, at the head of his best 
troops. Tlie Saxon army fled every where before 
him. The towns for thirty miles round sent him 
the keys of their gates. Not a day passed that 
•was not distinguished by some advantage. Suc- 
cess began to grow too familiar to Charles. He 
said it was rather like hunting than fighting, and 
complained that he was not obliged to purchase 
a victory on harder teims. 

Augustus gave the command of bis army for 
BOine time to count Schullemburg, a very able ge- 
neral, and who had need of all his experience at 
the head of dispirited troops. He was more anx- 
ious to preserve his master's troops than to con- 
quer. Me acted by stratagem, and the two kings 
with vigour. He stole some marches upon them, 
took possession of some advantageous posts, sa- 
crificed a few horse in order to give his infantry 
time to retire ; and thus, by a glorious retreat, 
saved his troops in the face of an enemy, in con- 
tending with whom it was impossible, at that 
time, to acquire any other kind of glory. 

He was scarce arrived in the palatinate of Pos- 
nania when he learned that the two kings, who he 
imagined were at the distance of fifty leagues, had 
marched these fifty leagues in nine hours. He 
had only eight thousand foot, and a thousand 
horse ; and yet with this handful of men he was 
cblig'^d to make head against a superior army, 
against the name of the king of Sweden, and 
against that terror with which so many defeats 
bad naturally inspired the Saxons. He had al- 



93 HISTORY OF 

ways affirmed, contrary to the opinion of the Ger- 
man generals, that infantry were able to resist 
cavalry in open field, even without the assistance 
of chevaux de frise, and he this day ventured to 
put the matter to the test of experience, against 
a victorious cavalry commanded by two kings, 
and by the best Swedish generals. He took pos- 
session of such an advantageous post, that he 
could not possibly be surrounded. The soldiers 
of the first rank, armed with pikes and fusees, 
bent one knee upon the ground, and standing very 
close together, presented to the enemy's horse a 
kind of pointed rampart with pikes and bayonets : 
thesecond rank, inclining a little on the shoulders 
of the first, fired over their heads ; and the third, 
standing upright, fired at the same time from 
behind the other two. The Swedes with their 
usual impetuosity, rushed upon the Saxons, who 
waited the assault without flinching : the dis- 
charge of the muskets, and the points of the pikes 
and bayonets maddened the horses, and made 
them rear instead of advancing. By these means 
the attack of the Swedes was rendered disorderly, 
and the Saxons defended themselves by keeping 
their ranks. 

Though he had received five wounds, he drew 
up his men in an oblong square, and in this form 
made an orderly retreat about midnight towards 
the small town of Gurau, three leagues distant 
from the field of battle. But he had hardly be- 
gun to breathe in this place, when the two kings 
suddenly appeared at his heels. 

Beyond Gurau, towards the river Oder, lay a 
thick wood, by marching through which the 
Saxon general saved his fatigued infantry. The 
Swedes, who were not to be checked by such a 
trivil interruption, pursued them even thro' the 
wood, advancing with great difliculty thro' paths 



CHARLES Xir. 93 • 

hardly passable by foot travellers ; and the Saxons 
had not crossed the wood above five hours before 
the Swedish horse. On the other side of the wood 
runs the river Parts, hard by a village called 
Rutsen. Schullemburg had taken care to send 
orders for having the boats in readiness ; and he 
now transported his troops, which were diminish- 
ed by one half. Charles arrived at the very nao- 
ment that Schullemburg reached the opposite 
bank. Never conqueror pursued his enemy with 
greater celerity, 'ihe reputation of Schullemburg 
depended upon his escaping from the king of 
Sweden : the king, on the other hand, thought . 
his glory concerned in taking Schullemburg, and 
the remains of his army. He lost not a moment, 
but immediately caused his cavalry to cross at a 
ford. And thus the Saxons found themselves shut 
up between the river of Parts, and the greater 
river of Oder, which takes its rise in Silesia, and 
at this place is very deep and rapid. 

Though the destruction of Scballemburg seem- 
ed to be inevitable, yet with the loss of a few sol- 
diers he passed the Oder in the night. Thus he 
saved his army, and Charles could not help say- 
ing, ' Schullemburg has conquered us to-day.' 

This is the same Schullemburg, who was after- 
wards general of the Venetians, and to whom the 
republic erected a statue in Corfu, for having de- 
fended that bulwark in Italy against the Turks. 
Such honours are conferred by republics only : 
kings give nothing but rewards. 

But what contributed so much to the glory of 
Schullemburg was of no service to king Augustus, 
who once more abandoned Poland to his enemies, 
retired into Saxony, and instantly repaired the 
fortifications of Dresden, being already afraid, 
and not without reason, for the capital of his 
hereditary dominions. 



94 HISTORY OF 

Charles Xlt. now beheld Poland reduced to 
subjection. His generals, afier his example, had 
beat in Courland several small bodies of the Mus- 
covites, who ever since the battle of Narva had 
appeared only in small companies, and made war 
in those parts like the vagrantJ'artars, who pillage, 
fly, and then re-appear in order to fly again. 

Wherever the Swedes came they thought them- 
selves sure of victory, when they v/ere only 
twenty to a hundred. At this happj conjunc- 
ture Stanislaus prepared for his coronation. For- 
tune, to which he owed his election at Warsaw, 
and his expulsion from thence, now recalled him 
thither, amidst the acclamations of a numerous 
nobility, attached to him by the fate of war. A 
diet was immediately convoked, where all ob- 
stacles were removed, except such as were raised 
by the court of Rome, which alone endeavoured 
to traverse the project. 

It was natural for Rome to declare in favourof 
Augustus, who from a protestant had become a 
catholic, in order to mount the throne of Poland, 
and to oppose Stanislaus, who had been placed 
upon the same throne by the great enemy of the 
catholic religion. Clement XI. the then pope, 
sent briefs to all the prelates of Poland, and par- 
ticularly to the cardinal- primate, threatening 
them with excommunication, if they presumed to 
assist at the consecration of Stanislaus, or at- 
tempt any thing against the rights of .4iugustus. 

Should these brief.* be delivered to the bishops, 
who were at Warsaw, it was believed that some 
of them would be weak enough to obey them ; and 
that the majority would avail themselves of this 
pretext to become more troublesome in proportion 
as they were more necessary. Every possible 
precaution was therefore taken to prevent these 
letters of the pope from being admitted into War- 



CHARLES XII. 95 

saw. But a Franciscan received the briefs secretly, 
promising to deliver lliem into the bishops' own 
hands. He presently gave one to the suffragan 
of Chelm. This prelate, who was strongly at- 
tached to Stanislaus, carried it to the king un- 
opened. The king sent for the monk, and asked 
him how he durst undertake to deliver a writing 
of that nature. The Franciscan answered, that 
he did it by order of his general. Stanislaus de- 
sired him for the future to pay a greater regard to 
the orders of his king than to those of the general 
of the Franciscans, and forthwith banished him 
the city. 

The same day a placard was published by the 
king of Sweden, forbidding, under the most severe 
penalties, all the ecclesiastics in Warsaw, both 
secular and regular, to interfere in affairs of state j 
and, for the greater security, he caused guards to 
be placed at the gates of all the prelates, and for- 
bade any stranger to enter the city. These little 
severities he took upon himself, in order to prevent 
any rupture between the clergy and Stanislaus, 
at his accession to the throne. He said he re- 
laxed himself from the fatigues of war, in giving 
a check to the intrigues of the Romish court ; and 
that he must fight against it with paper, whereas 
he was obliged to attack other sovereigns with 
real arms. 

The cardinal-primate was solicited by Charles 
and Stanislaus to come and perform the ceremony 
of the coronation. He did not think himself 
obliged to leave Dantzic, and to consecrate a king 
•who had been chosen against his will. But as it 
was his maxim never to do any thing without a 
pretext, he resolved to provide a lawful excuse for 
his refusal. He caused the pope's brief to be 
fixed in the mght time to the gate of his own 
house. I'he magistrates of Dantzic took fire at 



96 HISTORY OF 

this indignity, and caused strict search to be made 
for the authors, who nevertheless could not be 
found. The primate affected to be highly incensed, 
but in reality was very well pleased, as it furnish- 
ed him with a reason for refusing to consecrate 
the new king ; and thus at one and the same time 
he kept fair with Charles X 11. Augustus, Stanis- 
laus, and the pope. He died a few days after, 
leaving his country involved in confusion, and hav- 
ing reaped no other fruit from all his intrigues, 
but that of embroiling himself with the three 
kings, Charles, Augustus, and Stanislaus ; and 
■with the republic and the pope, who had ordered 
him to repair to Rome, ta give an account of his 
conduct. But as even politicians are sometimes 
touched with remorse in t'.eir last moments, he 
wrote to king Augustus oa his death bed, and 
begged his pardon. 

The consecration was performed with equal 
tranquillity and magnificence on the 4th of Octo- 
ber, 1705, in the city of VV.'\rsaw, notwithstanding 
the usual custom of the Poles, of crowning their 
kings at Cracow. Stanislaus Leczinsky, and his 
wife CharlottaOpalinska, were consecrated king 
and queen of Poland, by the hands of the arch- 
bishop of Leopold, assisted by several other pre- 
lates. Charles XII. saw the ceremony incognito, 
the only advantage he reaped from his conquests. 

While he was thus giving a king to the con- 
quered Poles, and Denmark durst not presume to 
create him any disturbances ; while the king of 
Prussia courted his friendship, and Augustus was 
retired to his hereditary dominions, the czar was 
every day becoming more and more formidable. 
Though he had given but little assistance to 
Augustus in Poland, he had nevertheless made 
powerful diversions in Ingria. 

He now began to grow not only a good soldier 



CHARLES XII. 97 

himself, but likewise instructed his subjects in the 
art of war. Discipline was established among 
his troops. He had good engineers, and well 
served artillery, and several good officers; and 
he understood the great secret of subsisting his 
armies. Some of bis generals had learned both 
how to fight, and, as occasion required, to de- 
cline fighting ; and he had besides formed a 
respectable navy, capable of making head against 
the Swedes in the Biiltic. 

Strengthened by all these advantages, which 
were entirely owing to his own genius, and the 
absence of the king of Sweden, he took Narva by 
assault, on the 2 1st of August, 1704, after a re- 
gular siege, during which he had prevented its 
Feceiving any succours either by sea or land. 
The soldiers were no sooner masters of the city 
than they ran to pillage, and abandoned them- 
selves to the most enormous barbarities. The 
czar flew from place to place, to stop the disorder 
and carnage. He snatched the women from the 
hands of the soldiers, who, after having ravished 
them, were going to cut their throats. He was 
even obliged to kill eome Muscovites, who did 
not obey his orders. They still shew you, in the 
town-house of Narva, the table upon which he 
laid his sword as he entered, and repeat the 
words which he spoke to the citizens, who were 
there assembled. ' It is not with the blood of the 
inhabitants that this sword is stained, but with 
that of the Muscovites, which I have shed to save 
your lives.' 

Had the czar always observed these humane 
maxims, he would have been the greatest man 
in the world. He aspired to a nobler character 
than that of a destroyer of towns. He was, at that 
time, laying the foundation of a city not far from 
Narva in the middle of his new conquests. This 
£ 



98 HISTORY OF 

was the city of Petersburg, which he afterwards 
made the place of his residence, and the centre 
of his trade. It is situated between Finland and 
Ingria, in a marshy island, around which the 
Keva divides itself into several branches, before it 
falls into the gulf of Finland. With his own hands 
he drew the plan of the city, the fortress, and the 
harbour, the keys which embellished it, and the 
forts which defended its entrance. This desert 
and uncultivated island, which during the short 
summer in those climates was only a heap of 
mud, and in winter a frozen pool, into which 
there was no entry by land but through pathless 
forests and deep morasses, and which had hitherto 
been the haunt of wolves and bears, was filled in 
1703 with above three hundred thousand men, 
whom the czar had brought thither from his other 
dominions. The peasants of the kmgdom of 
Astracan, and those who inhabit the frontiers of 
China, were transported to Petersburg. He was 
obliged to clear forests, to make roads, to drain 
marshes, and to raise banks, before he could lay 
the foundation of the city. 

The whole was a force put upon nature. The 
czar was determined to people a country, which 
did not seem designed for the habitation of men. 
Neither the inundation which razed his works, 
nor the sterility of the soil, nor the ignorance of 
the workmen, nor even the mortality which car- 
ried off about two hundred thousand men in the 
beginning of the undertaking, could divert hira 
from his firm resolution. The town was founded 
amidst the obstacles which nature, the genius of 
the people, and an unsuccessful war, conspired to 
raise against it. Petersburg was become a city 
in 1705, and its harbour was filled with ships. 
The emperor, by a proper distribution of favours^ 
drew many strangers thither, bestowing lands 



CHARLES XII. 99 

upon some, houses upon others, and encouraging 
all the artists that came to civilize this barbarous 
climate. Above all, he had rendered it proof 
against the utmost efforts of his enemies. The 
Swedish generals, who frequently beat his troops 
in every other quarter, were never able to hurt 
his infant colony. ltenjo\eda profound tran- 
quillity in the midst of the war, with which it 
was surrounded. 

While the czar was thus creating, as it were» 
new dominions to himself, he still held out a 
helping hand to Augustus, who was losing his. 
He persuaded him, by means of general Palkul, 
who had lately entered into the service of Mus- 
covy, and was then the czar's ambassador in 
Saxony, to come to Grodno to confer with him 
once more on the unhappy situation of his affairs. 
Thither Augustus repaired with some troops, and 
accompanied by general Schullemburg, who was 
now become famous over all the north for his 
passage across the Oder, and in whom the king 
reposed his last hopes. The czar arrived at the 
same place, followed by an army of seventy thou- 
sand men. The two monarchs concerted new 
measures for carrying on the war. Augustus, 
being now dethroned, was no longer afraid of 
provoking the Poles, by abandoning their coun- 
try to the Muscovite troops It was resolved 
that the army of the czar should be divided into 
several bodies, to check the progress of the King 
of Sweden at every step. It w^as at this time that 
Augustus renewed the order of tne white eagle, 
a weak expedient for attaching to his interest 
some Polish lords, who were more desirous of 
real advantages than of an empty honour which 
becomes ridiculous when it is held of a prince 
possessed of nothing but the name of king. The 
conference of the two kings ended in a very ex- 



100 HISTORY OF 

traordina.ry mariner. The czar departed sud- 
denly, left his troops to his ally, and went to ex- 
tinguish a rebellion with which he was threaten- 
ed in Astracan. Immediately after his depar- 
ture Augustus ordered Patkul to be arrested at 
Dresden. All Europe was surprised at his con- 
duct, in presuming, contrary to the law of na-. 
tions, and even in appearance to his own in- 
terest, to imprison the ambassador of the only 
prince from whom he could expect any assist- 
ance. 

The secret spring of this transaction, as I had 
the honour to be informed from marshal Saxe, 
eon to king Augustus, was as follows : Patkul, 
proscribed in Sweden for having defended the 
privileges of Livonia, his native country, had 
been general to Augustus ; but his high and lofty 
spirit, being unable to brook the haughty beha- 
viour of general Flemming, the king's favourite, 
more imperious and lofty than himself, he had 
passed into the service of the czar, whose ge- 
neral he then was, and his ambassador at the 
court of Augustus. Endowed, as he was, with a 
penetrating genius, he had observed that Flem- 
ming and the chancellor of Saxony intended to 
purchase a peace from the king of Sweden at any 
price. He forthwith formed a design to prevent 
them, and to effect an accommodation between 
the czar and Sweden. 'J'he chancellor discovered 
his project, and obtained leave to seize him. 
Augustus told the czar that Patkul was a perfi- 
dious wretch, and would betray them both. And 
yet he was no further culpable than in having 
served his new master too well; but an ill- 
timed piece of service frequently meets with the 
punishment due to treason. 

Meanwhile, the sixty thousand Russians di- 
vided into several small bodies, were burning 



CHARLES XII. 101 

and ravaging the lands of Stanislaus' adherents 
on one side ; and on the other, Schullemburg was 
advancing with fresh troops. The fortune of the 
Swedes dispersed these two armies in less than 
two months. Charles XII. and Stanislaus at- 
tacked the separate bodies of the Muscovites, 
one after another, and with so much vigour and 
dispatch, that one Muscovite general was beat 
before he heard of the defeat of his companion. 

Nothing could stop the progress of the con- 
queror. If a river intervened between hira and 
the enemy, Charles XII. and his Swedes swam 
across it. A party of Swedes took the baggage 
of Augustus, in which were found two hundred 
thousand crowns of silver. Stanislaus seized 
eight hundred thousand ducats belonging to 
prince Menzikoff, the Russian general. Charles, 
at the head of his cavalry, marched thirty leagues 
ia four-and-twenty hours ; every soldier leading 
a horse in his hand to mount when his own was 
weary. The Muscovites struck with terror, and 
reduced to a small number, fled in disorder be- 
yond the Borifitbeues. 

While Charles was driving the Muscovites be- 
fore him into the heart of Lithuania, Schullem- 
burg at last repassed the Oder, and came at the 
head of twenty thousand men to give battle to 
the grand marshal, Renschild, who was reckoned 
the best general that Charles had. and was called 
theParmenioofthis Alexander of the north. These 
two illustrious generals, who seemed to share 
the fate of their masters, met near Punitz, in a 
place called Travenstad, a spot already fatal to 
the troops of Augustus. Renschild had only 
thirteen battalions and two and twenty squadrons, 
amounting in all t.) about ten thousand men. 
Schullemburg had double that number. It is wor- 
thy of remark, that there was in his army a body 



102 HISTORY OF 

of six or seven thousand Muscovites, who had been 
long disciplined, and were esteemed good sol- 
diers. The battle of 'J'ravenstad vfas fought on 
the l!i!th of February, 1706. But this very ge- 
neral SchuUeniburg, who, with four and -twenty 
thousand men, had. in some measure, baffled the 
good fortune of the king- of Sweden, sunk under 
that of general Renschild. The combat did not 
last a quarter of an hour ; the Saxons made no 
resistance ; the Muscovites threw down their 
arms the moment they saw the Swedes. The 
panic was so sudden, and the confusion so great, 
that the conquerors found on the field of battle 
seven thousand loaded fusees, which the enemy- 
had thrown away without firing. No defeat was 
ever more sudden, more complete, or more dis- 
graceful : and yet no general ever made a finer 
disposition of his troops than Schullemburg, even 
by the confession of the Saxon and Swedish ge- 
nerals themselves, who this day saw how little 
human prudence is able to command events. 

Among the prisoners there was an entire re- 
giment of Frenchmen. These unhappy men had 
been taken by the Saxons in 1704, at the famous 
battle of Hochstet, so fatal to the grandeur of 
Lewis XIV. They had afterwards passed into 
the service of Augustus, who had formed them 
into a regiment of dragoons, the command of 
which he had given to a Frenchman of the family 
of Joyeuse. The colonel was killed at the first, 
or rather the only charge of the Swedes ; and the 
■whole regiment were made prisoners of war. 
That very day the French begged to be admitted 
into the service of Charles XII. into which they 
•were accordingly received by a strange caprice of 
fortune, which reserved them once more to change 
their master and their conqueror. 

With regard to the Muscovites, they begged 



CHARLES Xir. 103 

their lives on their knees ; but tbe Swedes cruelly 
put them to death above six hours after the battle, 
m order to revenge on them the outrages which 
their countrymen had committed, and to rid their 
hands of those prisoners whom they did not know 
how to dispose of. 

Augustus now saw himself deprived of all re- 
sources. He had nothing left but Cracow, where 
he was shut up with two regiments of Muscovites, 
two of Saxons, and some troops of the army of the 
crown, by whom he was even afraid of being de- 
livered up to the conqueror: but his misfortunes 
■were completed when he heard that Charles XII. 
had at last entered Saxony, on the 1st of Sep- 
tember, 1706. 

He had marched through Silesia, without so 
much as deigning to apprise the court of V^ieuna 
of his motions. Germany was struck with con- 
sternation. The diet of Ratisbon, which repre- 
sents the empire, and whose resolutions are fre- 
quently as ineffectual as they are solemn, de- 
clared the king of Sweden an enemy of the em- 
pire, if he should pass the Oder with his army : 
a step which only determined him to march the 
sooner into Germany. 

At his approach the villages were deserted, and 
the inhabitants fled on all siHes. Charles behaved 
in the same manner as he had done at Copen- 
hagen : he caused a declaration to be fixed up in 
all public places, importing, That his only in. 
tention in coming was to procure peace ; that all 
those who would return home and pay the contri- 
butions he demanded, should be treated as his 
own subjects, and the rest punished without 
mercy. This declaration from a prince who was 
never known to break his word, made all those 
who had fled for fear to return home. He pitched 
bis camp at Altranstad, near the plain of Lutzen, 



104 HISTORY OF 

a field famous for the victory and death of Gas* 
tavus Adolphus. He went to see the place where 
that great man fell. When he reached the spot, 
* I have endeavoured,' said he, ' to live like him ; 
God, perhaps, will one day grant me as glorious 
a death.' 

From this camp he sent orders to the states of 
Saxony to assemble, and to transmit to him, with- 
out delay, the registers of the electoral finances. 
As soon as he had got them in his power, and 
was exactly informed how much Saxony could 
supply, he taxed it at six hundred and twenty- 
five thousand rix-doUars a month. Over and 
above this contribution, the Saxons were obliged 
to furnish every Swedish soldier with two pounds 
of flesh, two pounds of bread, two pots of beer, 
and fourpence a day, with forage for the horse. 
The contributions being thus regulated, the king 
established a new police, to protect the Saxons 
from the insults of his soldiers. In all the towns 
where he placed garrisons, he ordered the inn- 
keepers, in whose houses the soldiers were quar- 
tered, to deliver every month certificates of their 
behaviour, without which the soldiers were to 
have no pay. Besides, inspectors were appointed, 
who, once in every fifteen days, went from house 
to house, to make inquiry whether the Swedes 
had committed any outrage ; in which case, care 
was taken to indemnify the inn- keepers, and to 
punish the delinquents. 

It is well known under what severe discipline 
the troops of Charles XII. were kept ; that they 
never plundered the towns which they took by as- 
sault till they had received permission ; and that 
they even plundered in a regular manner, and left 
off at the first signal. The Swedes pique them- 
selves to this day on the strict discipline which 
they observed in Saxony ; and yet the Saxons 



CHARLES XII. 105 

complain of the terrible ravages they committed ; 
contradictions, which it would be impossible to 
reconcile, did not we know in what very different 
lights the same objects appear to different men. 
It could hardly happen but that the conquerors 
must have sometimes abused their rights ; and the 
conquered have taken the slightest injuries for 
the most enormous outrages. One day, as the 
king was taking the air on horseback, in the 
neighbourhood of Leipsic, a Saxon peasant threw 
himself at his feet, begging he would do him jus- 
tice on a grenadier, who had just taken from him 
what was designed for his family's dinner. The 
king ordered the soldier to be brought before him ; 
• And is it true,' says he with a stern countenance, 
•that you have robbed this man V — ' Sir,' says 
the soldier, ' 1 have not done him so much harm 
as you have done to his master : you have taken 
a kingdom from him, and I have only taken a 
turkey from this fellow.' The king gave the pea- 
sant ten ducats with his own hand, and pardoned 
the soldier for the wit and boldness of the reply ; 
adding, * Remember, friend, that if I have taken 
a kingdom from Augustus, 1 have kept nothing 
to myself.' 

The great fair of Leipsic was held as usual. 
The merchants came thither in perfect security. 
Not one Swedish soldier was to be seen in the 
fair. One would have said that the army of the 
king of Sweden was in Saxony for no other reason 
than to watch over the safety of the country. He 
commanded throughout all the electorate with a 
power as absolute, and a tranquillity as profound, 
as if he had been in Stockholm. 

Augustus, wandering up and down Poland, and 

deprived at once of his kingdom and electorate, 

at last wrote a letter with his own hand to Charles 

XII. in which he humbly sued for peace. This 

2 £ 



106 HISTORY OF 

letter he sent secretly by baron d'Imhoff and Mr. 
Fingsten refendary of the privy council, to whicb 
two gentlemen he gave full power, and a blank 
signed : ' Go,' says he to them, ' endeavour to 
procure me reasonable and Christian conditions/ 
He was obliged, however, to conceal these over- 
tures, and to decline the mediation of any prince j 
for being then in Poland, at the mercy of the Mus- 
covites, he had reason to fear that that dangerous 
ally, whom he was now going to abandon, would 
punish him for his submission to the conqueror. 
His two plenipotentiaries came to Charles's camp 
in the night-time, and had a private audience. 
The kin§ having read the letter, told them they 
should have his answer in a moment i and accord- 
ingly retiring to his closet, he wrote as follows : 

' I consent to give peace on the following con- 
ditions, in which it must not be expected that 
ever 1 make the least alteration. 

' I. That Augustus renounce the crown of Po- 
land for ever ; that he acknowledge Stanislaus 
as lawful king, and that he promise never to re- 
mount the throne, not even after the death of Sta- 
nislaus. 

'II. That he renounce all other treaties, and 
particularly those he hath made with Muscovy. 

'III. That he send back to my camp, in an ho- 
nourable manner, the princes Sobieski, and all 
the prisoners he hath taken. 

* IV. That he deliver into my hands all the de- 
serters that have entered into his service, and 
particularly John Patkul ; and that he stop all 
proceedings against such as have passed from his 
service into mine.' 

This paper he gave to count Piper, with order* 
to transact the rest with the plenipotentiaries of 
Augustus. These gentlemen were shocked at 
the cruelty of the proposals, and used all the 



CHARLES XII. 107 

little arts that men without power can employ, 
to soften, if possible, the rigour of the king of 
Sweden, They had several conferences with count 
Piper ; but that minister answered all their ar- 
guments with this short reply : * Such is the will 
of the king my master, and he never alters his 
resolution.' 

While these negotiations were carrying on in 
Saxony, fortune seemed to put Augustus in a 
condition to obtain more honourable terms, and 
of treating with his conqueror on a more equal 
footing. 

Prince Menzikoff, generalissimo of the Mus- 
covite army, brought into Poland a body of thirty- 
thousand men, at a time when Augustus not only 
did not desire their assistance, but even feared 
it. He had with him some Polish and Saxon 
troops, making in all, about six thousand men. 
Surrounded with this small body by the army of 
prince Menzikoff, he had every thing to fear, in 
case the negotiation should be discovered. He 
saw himself at once dethroned by his enemy, 
and in danger of being arrested by his ally. In 
this delicate conjuncture, one of the Swedish 
generals, named Meyerfeld, at the head of ten 
thousand men, appeared at Calish, near the 
palatinate of Posnania. Prince Menzikoff, press- 
ed Augustus to give them battle. The king, who 
was greatly embarrassed, delayed the engage- 
ment under various pretexts ; for though the 
enemy had but one-third of his number, there 
were four thousand Swedes in Meyerfeld's 
army, and that alone was sufficient to render the 
event doubtful. To give battle to the Swedes 
during the negotiation, and lose it, was in effect 
to deepen the abyss in which he was already 
plunged. He therefore resolved to send a trusty 
servant to the general of the enemy, to give him 



m HISTORY OF 

some distant hints with regard to the peace, and 
advise him to retreat. But this advice produced 
an effect quite contrary to what he expected. 
General Meyerfeld thought they were laying a 
snare to intimidate him; and for that reason 
resolved to hazard a battle. 

The Russians, now for the first time, conquered 
the Swedes in a pitched battle. This victory, 
which Augustus gained almost against his will, 
was entire and complete. In the midst of hia 
bad fortune be entered triumphant into Warsaw, 
formerly his flourishing capital, but then a dis- 
mantled and ruined town, ready to receive any 
conqueror, and to acknowledge the strongest for 
king. He was tempted to seize upon this mo- 
ment of prosperity, to go and attack the king of 
Sweden in Snxony with the Muscovite army : but 
when he reflected that Charles XI [.was at the 
head of a Swedish army, hitherto invincible ; 
that the Russians would abandon him on the first 
intelligence of the treaty he had begun ; that hi» 
Saxon dominions, already drained of men and 
money, would be equally ravaged by the Swedes 
and Muscovites ; that the empire engaged in a 
war with France could afford him no assistance ; 
and that, in the end, he should be left without 
dominions, money, or friends ; he thought it most 
advisable to comply with the terms which the 
king of Sweden should impose. These terma 
became still more hard when Charles heard that 
Augustus had attacked his troops during the nego- 
tiation. His resentment, and the pleasure of 
further humbling an enemy who had just van- 
quished his forces, made him inflexible upon all 
the articles of the treaty. I'hus the victory of 
Augustus served only to render his situation the 
more miserable; a thing which perhaps never 
happened to any but himself. 



CHARLES XII. 109 

He had just caused Te Deum to be Buug at 
Warsaw, when Fingsten, one of his plenipoten- 
tiaries, arrived from Saxony with the treaty of 
peace which deprived him of his crown. Au- 
gustus hesitated for a little, but at last signed it , 
and then set out for Saxony, vainly hoping that 
his presence would soften the king of Sweden, 
and that his enemy would perhaps remember the 
ancient alliances of their families, and the com- 
mon blood that ran in both their veins. 

These two princes met for the first time in 
count Piper's tent, at a place called Gutersdorff, 
without any ceremony. Charles XII. was in 
jack-boots, with a piece of black taffety tied 
round his neck instead of a cravat : his clothes, 
as usual, were of coarse blue cloth, with gilt brass 
buttons. He had a long sword by his side, 
which ha^ served him in the battle of Narva, 
and upon the pummel of which he frequently 
leaned. The conversation turned wholly upon 
these jack-boots : Charles XII. told Augustus 
that he had not laid them aside for these six 
years past, except when he went to bed. These 
trifles were the only subject of discourse between 
two kings, one of whom had deprived the other 
of a crown. Augustus, especially, spoke with 
an air of complaisance and satisfaction, which 
princes, and men accustomed to the manage- 
ment of great aflFairs, know how to assume amidst 
the most cruel mortifications. The two kings 
dined together two several times. Charles XII. 
always affected to give Augustus the right hand^j 
but, far from mitigating the rigour of his de- 
mands, he rendered them still more severe. It. 
was certainly a very mortifying thing, for a so- 
vereign to be forced to deliver up a general 
officer and a public minister. It was still a 
greater debasement to be obliged to send the 



110 HISTORY OF 

jewels and archives of the crown to his suc- 
cessor Stanislaus. But what completed his de- 
gradation was his being at last compelled to con- 
gratulate, on his accession to the throne, the 
man who was going to usurp his place. Charles 
required Augustus to write a letter to Stanislaus. 
The dethroned king endeavoured to evade the 
demand ; but Charles insisted upon his writing 
the letter, and he was at last obliged to comply. 
Here follows an exact copy of it, which I have 
seen. It is transcribed from the original, which 
is still in possession of king Stanislaus. 

' Sir and Brother, 

' We little imagined it would have been ne- 
cessary to enter into a literary correspondence 
with your majesty ; nevertheless, in order to 
please his Swedish majesty, and to avoid the sus- 
picion of our being unwilling to gratify his desire, 
■we hereby congratulate you on your accession to 
the throne ; and wish you may find in your na- 
tive country more faithful subjects than we have 
left there. All the world will do us the justice 
to believe, that we have received nothing but 
the most ungrateful returns for our good offices, 
and that the greater part of our subjects seemed 
to have no other aim than to hasten our ruin. 
Wishing that you may never be exposed to the 
like misfortunes, we commit you to the protection 
of God. 

Dresden, Your brother and neighbour, 

April a, 1707. Augustus, King.' 

Augustus was obliged to give orders to all his 
jnagistrates no longer to style him king of Poland, 
and to eraze his title, which he now renounced, 
out of the public prayers. He was less averse to 
the releasing of the Sobieskies ; but the sacrifice 
of Patkttl was the severest of all. The czar, on 



CHARLES XII. Ill 

the one hand, loudly demanded hira back as hia 
ambassador ; and, on the other, the king of Swe- 
den, with the most terrible menaces in case of a 
refusal insisted that he should be delivered up 
to him. Patkul was then confined in the castle 
of Konigstein, in Saxony. Augustus thought he 
might easily gratify Charles XII. and save his 
own honour. He sent his guards to deliver this 
unhappy man to the Swedish troops ; but he pre- 
viously dispatched a secret order to the governor 
of Konigstein, to let his prisoner escape. The 
bad fortune of Patkul defeated the pains that were 
taken to save him. The governor, knowing that 
Patkul was very rich, had a mind to make him 
purchase his liberty. The prisoner still relying on 
the law of nations, and informed of the intentions 
of Augustus, refused to pay for that which he 
thought he had a title to obtain for nothing. Dur- 
ing this interval, the guards, who were commis- 
sioned to seize the prisoner arrived, and immedi- 
ately delivered him to four Swedish captains, 
who carried him forthwith to the general quarters 
at Altranstad, where be remained for three 
months tied to a stake, with a heavy iron chain j 
and from thence was conducted to Casimir. 

Charles XII. forgetting that Patkul was the 
czar's ambassador, and considering him only ad 
his own subject, ordered a council of war to try 
him with the utmost rigour. He was condemned 
to be broke alive, and quartered. A chaplain 
having come to inform him of the fatal sentence, 
without acquainting h im with the manner in which 
it was to be executed, Patkul, who had braved 
death in so many battles, finding himself shut up 
with a priest, and his courage being no longer 
supported by glory or passion, the only sources of 
human intrepidity, poured out a flood of tears in 
the chaplain's bosom. He was afiSanced to a 



112 HISTORY OF 

Saxon lady, called Madam d'Einsiedel, a woman 
of birth, of merit, and of beauty, and whom he 
intended to have married much about the time 
that he was now condemned to die. He entreated 
the chaplain to wait upon her, to give her ail the 
consolation he could, and to assure her that he 
died full of the most tender affection for his in- 
comparable mistress. When he was brought to 
the place of punishment, and beheld the wheels 
and stakes prepared for his execution, he fell into 
convulsions, and threw himself into the arms of 
the minister, who embraced him, covered him 
with his cloak, and wept over him. 'J'hen a 
Swedish officer read aloud a paper to the follow- 
ing effect : 

* This is to declare, that it is the express order 
of his majesty, our most merciful lord, that this 
man, who is a traitor to his country, be broke 
upon the wheel, and quartered, in order to atone 
for his crimes, and to be an example to others ; 
that every one may beware of treason, and faith- 
fully serve his king.' At the words ' most mer- 
ciful prince,' Patkul cried out, ' What mercy V 
and at those of ' traitor to his country,' — ' Alas !' 
said he, ' I have served it but too well.' He re- 
ceived sixteen blows, and suffered the longest 
and most excruciating tortures that can be ima- 
gined. Thus died the unfortunate John Reinold 
Patkul, ambassador and general of the emperor 
of Russia. 

Those that looked upon him only as a rebel, 
said that he deserved death ; but those who con- 
sidered him as a Livonian, born in a province that 
bad privileges to defend, and remembered that 
he had been banished from Livonia for no other 
reason than his having defended those privileges, 
called him a martyr to the liberty of his country. 
But all agreed that the title of ambassador to the 



CHARLES XII. 113 

czar ought to have rendered his person sacred. 
The king of Sweden alone, brought up in the prin- 
ciples of arbitrary power, thought that he had only 
performed an act of justice, whilst all Europe 
condemned his cruel tyn 

His mangled limbs remained exposed upon 
gibbets till 17 13, when Augustus, having regained 
his throne,, caused these testimonies of the ne- 
cessity to which he was reduced at Akranstad to 
be gathered together. They were brought to 
Warsaw in a box, and delivered to him in pre 
sence of the French envoy. The king of Poland 
shewing the box to this minister, only paid, ' These 
are the limbs of Patkul ;' without adding any 
thing, either to blame his conduct or to bewail 
his memory, and without any one daring to speak 
on so delicate and mournful a subject. 

About this time, a Livonian called Paikel, an 
officer in the Saxon troops, who had been taken 
prisoner in the field, was condemned at Stockholm 
by a decree of the senate ; but his sentence was 
only to lose his head. This difference of punish- 
ments in the same case, made it but too plain, 
that Charles, in putting Patkul to such a cruel 
death, was more auxious to avenge himself than 
to punish the criminal. Be that as it will, Pai- 
kel, after his condemnation, proposed to the se- 
nate to impart to the king the secret of making 
gold, on condition that he should )btain his par- 
don. He made the experiment in prison, in pre- 
sence of Colonel Hamilton and the magistrates 
of the town : and whether he had actually dis- 
covered some useful secret, or, which is more 
probable, had only acquired the art of deceiving 
with a plausible air, thev cariied the gold which 
was found in the crucible to the mint at Stock- 
holm, and gave the senate such a full, and seem- 
ingly such an important account of the matter. 



114 HISTORY OF 

that the queen-dowager, Charles's grandmother, 
ordered the execution to be suspended till the 
king should be informed of this uncommon affair^ 
and should send his orders accordingly. 

The king made answer,** That he had refused 
the pardon of the criminal to the entreaties of his 
friends, and that he would never grant to interest 
what he had denied to friendship.' This inflexi- 
bility had something in it very heroical in a 
prince, especially as he thought the secret prac- 
ticable. Augustus, upon hearing this story, said, 
' I am not surprised at the king of Sweden's in- 
diflFerence about the philosopher's stone: he has 
found it in Saxony.' 

When the czar was informed of the strange 
peace which Augustus had, notwithstanding their 
former treaties, concluded at Altranstad : and 
that Patkul.his ambassador-plenipotentiary, was 
delivered up to the king of Sweden, in contempt 
of the law of nations, he loudly complained of 
these indignities to the courts of Europe. He 
wrote to the emperor of Germany, to the queen of 
England, and to the states-general of the United 
Provinces. He gave the terms of cowardice and 
treachery to the sad necessity to which Augustus 
had been obliged to submit. He conjured all 
these powers to interpose their mediation to pro- 
cure the restoration of his ambassador, and to 
prevent the affront, which, in his person, was 
going to be offered to all crowned heads. He 
pressed them, by the motive of honour, not to de- 
mean themselves so far as to become guarantees 
of the treaty of Altranstad ; a concession which 
Charles Xll. meant to extort from them by his 
threatening and imperious behaviour. These let- 
ter/ had no other effect than to set the power of 
th-? king of Sweden in a stronger light. The em- 
pp.Tor, England, and Holland, were then engaged 



CHARLES XII. 115 

in a destructive war against France, and thought 
it a very unseasonable juncture to exasperate 
Charles XII. by refusing the vain ceremony of 
being guarantees to a treaty. With regard to 
the unhappy Patkul, there was not a single power 
that interposed its good offices in his behalf ; frona 
whence it appears what little confidence a sub- 
ject ought to put in princes, and how much all 
the European powers at tha* time stood in awe of 
the king of Sweden. 

It was proposed in the czar's council to reta- 
liate on the Swedish officers who were prisoners at 
Moscow ; but the czar would not consent to a bar- 
barity which would have been attended with fatal 
consequences, as there were more Muscovites 
prisoners in Sweden, than Swedes in Muscovy. 

He resolved to take a more advantageous re- 
venge. The main body of his enemy's army lay 
idle in Saxony. Levenhaupt, the king of Swe- 
den's general, who was left in Poland with abouf 
twenty thousand men, was not able to guard the 
passes into a country without forts, and full of fac- 
tions. Stanislaus was in the camp of Charles XII. 
The emperor of Muscovy seizes this opportunity, 
and re-enters Poland with above sixty thousand 
men. These he divides into several bodies, and 
marches with a flying camp to Leopold, where 
there was no Swedish garrison. All the towns 
of Poland yield to any one who appears before 
their gates at the head of an army. He caused 
an assembly to be convoked at Leopold, of much 
the same nature with that which had dethroned 
Augustus at Warsaw. 

At that time Poland had two primates, as well 
as two kings, the one nominated by Augustus, the 
other by Stanislaus. The primate nominated by 
Augustus summoned the assembly of Leopold, to 
which resorted all those whom that prince had 



116 HISTORY OF 

abandoned by the peace of AltranstaJ, anrt s'Jch as 
•were gained by the czar's money. Here it was 
proposed to elect anew sovereign ; so that Poland 
was almost upon the point of having three kings 
at once, without being able to say which was the 
real one- 

During the conferences at Leopold, the czar, 
whose interest was closely connected with that of 
the emperor of Germany, on account of the com- 
mon dread which they both entertained of the 
power of the king of Sweden, secretly obtained 
from him a number of German officers ; who, 
daily arriving, increased his strength in a con- 
siderable degree, by bringing along with them 
discipline and experience. I'hese he engaged in 
his service by several instances of liberality ; and 
the more to encourage his own troops, he gave 
his picture set round with diamonds to all the 
general officers and colonels who had fought at 
the battle of Calish : the subaltern officers had 
medals of gold, and every private soldier a medal 
of silver. These monuments of the victory at Ca- 
lish were all struck in the new city of Petersburg ; 
where the improvement of the arts kept pace 
with the desire of glory and spirit of emulation 
which the czar had infused into his troops. 

The confusion, the multiplicity of factions, and 
the continual ravages prevailing in Poland, hin- 
dered the diet of Leopold from coming to any re- 
solution. The czar transferred it to Lublin ; but 
the change of place did not lessen the disorder 
and perplexity in which the whole nation was in- 
volved. The assembly contented themselves with 
declaring, that they neither acknowledged Augus- 
tus who had abdicated the throne, nor Stanislaus 
who had been elected against their will ; but they 
were neither sufficiently united, nor had resolution 
enough to nominate another king. During these 



CHARLES XII 117 

fruitless deliberations, the party of the princes 
Sapieha, that of Ogiusky, those who secretly ad- 
hered to Augustus, and the new subjects of Sta- 
nislaus, all made war upon one another, and by 
pillaging each other's estates, completed theruia 
of their country. The Swedish troops, com- 
manded by Leveuhaupt, one part of which lay in 
Livonia, another in Lithuania, and a third ia 
Poland, were daily in pursuit of the Russians, 
and set fire to every thing that opposed Sta- 
nislaus. The Russians ruined their friends and 
foes without distinction . and nothing was to be 
seen but towns reduced to ashes, and wandering 
troops of Poles, deprived of their substance, and 
detesting alike their two kings, the czar, and 
Charles XU. 

To quell these commotions, and to secure the 
possession of the throne, Stanislaus set out from 
Aitranstad on the 15th of July, 1707, accom- 
panied b}' general Kenschild, and sixteen Swe- 
dish regiments, and furnished with a large sum 
of money. He was acknowledged wherever he 
came. The strict discipline of his troops, which 
made the barbarity of the Muscovites to be more 
sensibly felt, conciliated the affections of the 
people. His extreme affability, in proportion as 
it was better known, reconciled to him almost 
all the different factions ; and his money pro* 
cured him the greatest part of the army of the 
crown. The czar, apprehensive of wanting pro- 
visions, in a country which his troops had laid 
waste, retired into Lithuania, where he had fixed 
the general rendezvous of his army, and where 
he resolved to establish magazines. This retreat 
left Stanislaus the undisturbed sovereign oi the 
greatest part of Poland. 

The only person that gave him anv uneasiness 
was count Smiawski, grand geneial of the crown. 



lia HISTORY OF 

by the nomination of Augustus. This man, who 
was possessed of no contemptible talents, and en- 
tertained the most ambitious views, was at the 
head of a third party. He neither acknowledged 
Augustus nor Stanislaus ; and after having used 
his utmost efforts in order to procure his own 
election, he contented himself with being the 
head of a party, since he could not be king. The 
troops of the crown, which continued under his 
command had no other pay but the liberty of pil- 
laging their fellow- subjects with impunity: and 
all those who had either suffered, or were appre- 
hensive of suffering from the rapacity of these 
free-booters, soon submitted to Stanislaus, whose 
power was gathering strength every day. 

The king of Sweden was then receiving, in 
his camp at Altranstad, ambassadors from almost 
all the princes in Christendom. Some entreated 
him to quit the empire, others desired him to turn 
his arms against the emperor ; and it was then 
the general report, that he intended to join with 
France, in humbling the house of Austria. Among 
these ambassadors was the famous John duke of 
Marlborough, sent by Anne, queen of Great Bri- 
tain. This man, who never besieged a town 
which he did not take, nor fought a battle which 
he did not gain, was at St. James's a perfect 
courtier, in parliament the head of a party, and 
in foreign countries the most able negotiator of 
his time. He did France as much mischief by 
his politics as by his arms. Mr. Fagel, secre* 
tary of the states-general, and a man of great 
meritjhas been heard to say, that when the states- 
general had more than once resolved to oppose 
the schemes which the duke was about to lay 
before them, the duke came, spoke to them in 
French, a language in which he expressed him- 
self but very indifferently, and brought them all 



CHARLES XII. It9 

over to his opinion. This account I had from lord 
Bolingbroke. 

In conjunction with prince Eugene, the compa- 
nion of his victories, and Heinsius, the grand pen- 
sionary of Holland, he supported the whole weight 
of the war which the ajlies waged against France. 
He knew that Charles was incensed against the 
empire and the emperor ; that he was secretly 
solicited by the French ; and that if this con- 
queror should espouse the cause of Lewis XIV. 
the allies must be entirely ruined. 

True it is, Charles had given his word in 1700, 
that he would not intermeddle in the quarrel 
between Lewis XIV. and the allies ; but the duke 
of Marlborough could not believe that any prince 
would be so great a slave to his word as not to 
sacrifice it to his grandeur and interest. He 
therefore set out from the Hague with a resolution 
to sound the intentions of the king of Sweden. 
Mr. Fabricius, who then attended upon Charles 
XII. assured me, that the duke of Marlborough, 
on his arrival, applied secretly, not to count 
Piper, the prime minister, but to baron de Gortz, 
who now began to share with Piper the confi- 
dence of the king. He even went to the quar- 
ters of Charles XII. in the coach of this gentle- 
man,* between whom and the chancellor Piper, 
together with Robinson, the English minister, he 
spoke to the king in French. He told him that he 
should esteem it a singular happiness, could he 

• When the duke arrived at the quarters of comit 
Piper, of whom he had demanded an audience, he wa» 
told the count was busy, and obliged to wait half an 
hour before the Swedish minister came down to receive 
him. Then the duke alighted from his coach, put on hit 
hat, passed the count without saluting him, went aside to 
the wall, where having staid a few minutes, he retoraod 
and accosted Piper with the most polite address. 



120 HISTORY OF 

have an opportunity of learning under his com- 
mand such parts of the art of war as he did not 
yet understand. To this pohte compliment the 
king made no return, and seemed to forget that 
it was Marlborough who was speaking to him. 
He even thought, as 1 have been credibly informed, 
that the dress of this great man was too fine and 
costly ; and that his air had in it too little of a 
soldier. The conversation was tedious and ge- 
neral. Charles XII. speaking in the Swedish 
tongue, and Robinson serving as an interpreter. 
Marlborough, who was never in a haste to make 
proposals ; and who, by a long course of ex- 
perience, had learned the art of diving into the 
real characters of men, and discovering the con- 
nexion between their met secret thoughts and 
their actions, gestures, and discourse, regarded 
the king with the utmost attention. When he 
spoke to him of war in general, he thought he 
perceived in his majesty a natural aversion to 
France ; and remarked tbat he talked with plea- 
sure of the conquests of the allies. He mentioned 
the czar to him, and observed that his eyes always 
kindled at the name, notwithstanding the calm- 
ness of the conver.sation. Besides, he saw a map 
of Muscovy lying before him upon the table. He 
wanted no more to convince him, that the real de- 
sign and the sole ambition of the king of Sweden 
was to dethrone the czar, as he had already done 
the king of Poland. He was sensible that, if 
Charles remained in Saxony, it was only to im- 
pose some hard conditions on the emperor of 
Germany. He knew the emperor would make 
no resistance, and that thus all disputes would be 
easily accommodated. He left Charles XII. to 
follow the bent of his own mind ; and, satisfied 
with having discovered his intentions, he made 
him no proposals. These particulars I had from 



CHARLES XII. 121 

the duchess of Marlborough, his widow, who is 
still alive.* 

As few negotiations are finished without 
money, and as ministers are sometimes seen to 
sell the hatred or favour of their masters, it was 
the general opinion throughout all Europe, that 
the duke of Marlborough would not have suc- 
ceeded so well with the king of Sweden, had he 
not made a handsome present to count Piper, 
whose memory still labours under the imputation. 
For my own part, after having traced this report 
to its source, with all the care and accuracy of 
which I am master, I have found that Piper re- 
ceived a small present from the emperor, by the 
hands of the count de Wratislau, with the con- 
sent of his master, and not a farthing from the 
duke of Marlborough. Certain it is, Charles was 
so firmly resolved to dethrone the emperor of 
Russia that he asked nobody's advice on that 
subject, nor needed the instigation of count Piper 
to prompt him to wreak his long-meditated ven- 
geance on the head of Peter Alexiowitz. 

But what vindicates the character of that mi- 
nister beyond all probability and cavil, was the 
honour which, long after this period, was paid to 
his memory by Charles XII. who having heard 
that Piper was dead in Russia, caused his corpse 
to be transported to Stockholm, and gave him a 
magnificent funeral at his own expense. 

The king, who had not as yet experienced any 
reverse of fortune, nor even met with any inter- 
ruption in his victories, thought one year would 
be suflBcient for dethroning the czar ; after which, 
he imagined he might return in peace, and erect 

• The author wrote in 1727, siuce which time, as ap- 
pears from other dates, the work hath undergone several 
corrections. 

F 



122 HISTORY OF 

himself into the arbiter of Europe. But first of 
all, he resolved to humble the emperor of Ger- 
many. 

The baron de Stralheim, the Swedish envoy at 
Vienna, had had a quarrel at a public entertain- 
ment with the count de Zobor, chamberlain of 
the emperor. The latter having refused to drink 
the health of Charles XU. and having bluntly de- 
clared, that that prince had used his master ill, 
Stralheim gave him at once the lie and a box on 
the ear, and besides this insult, boldly demanded 
a reparation from the imperial court. The em- 
peror, afraid of displeasing the king of Sw^eden, 
was obliged to banish his subject, whom he ought 
rather to have avenged. Charles, not satisfied 
even with this condescension, insisted that count 
Zobor should be delivered up to him. The pride 
of the court of Vienna was forced to stoop. The 
count was put into the hands of the king, who 
sent him back, after having kept him some time 
as a prisoner at Stettin. 

He further demanded, contrary to all the laws 
of nations, that they should deliver up to him 
fifteen hundred unhappy Muscovites, who having 
escaped the fury of his arms, had fled for refuge 
into the empire. The emperor was obliged to 
yield even to this unreasonable demand ; and had 
not the Russian envoy at V^ienna given these un- 
happy wretches an opportunity of escaping by dif- 
ferent roads, they must have been delivered into 
the hands of their enemies. 

The third and last of his demands was the most 
daring. He declared himself the protector of the 
emperor's protestant subjects in Silesia, a province 
belonging to the house of Austria, and not to the 
empire. He insisted that the emperor should 
grant them the liberties and privileges which had 
been established by the treaties of Westphalia, 



CHARLES XIT. 123 

but which ■were extinguislied. or, at least eluded 
by those of Ryswick. The emperor, who wanted 
only to get rid of such a dangerous neighbour, 
yielded once more, and granted all that he desired. 
The Lutherans of Silesia had above a hundred 
churches, which the catholics were obliged to 
cede to them bj this treaty ; but of these advan- 
tages, which were now procured them by the king 
of Sweden's good fortune, they were afterwards 
deprived when that prince was no longer in a con- 
dition to impose laws. 

The emperor, who made these forced conces- 
sions, and complied in every thing with the will 
of Charles XIl. was called Joseph ; and was the 
eldest son of Leopold, and brother of Charles VI. 
who succeeded him. The pope's inter-nuncio, 
who then resided at the court of Joseph, reproach- 
ed him in very severe terms, alleging that it was 
a most shameful condescension for a catholic 
emperor, like him, to sacrifice the interest of his 
own religion to that of heretics. ' You may think 
yourself very happy,' replied the emperor, with a 
smile, ' that the king of Sweden did not propose 
to make me a Lutheran ; for, if he had, I do not 
know what I might have done.' 

The count de Wratislau, his ambassador with 
Charles XII. brought to Leipsic the treaty in fa- 
vour of the Silesians, signed with his master's 
hand ; upon which Charles said, he was the em- 
peror's very good friend. He was far from being 
pleased, however, with the court of Rome, which 
had employed all its arts and intrigues, in order 
to traverse his scheme. He looked with the ut- 
most contempt upon the weakness of that court, 
which having one half of Europe for its irrecon- 
cilable enemy, and placing no confidence in the 
other, can only suppqrt its credit by the dexterity 
of its negotiations j and he resolved therefore to 



124 HISTORY OF 

be revenged on his holiness. He told the count 
de Wratislau, that the Swedes had formerly sub- 
dued Rome, and had not degenerated like her. 
He sent the pope word, that he would one day 
redemand the effects which queen Christina had 
left at Rome. It is hard to say how far this young 
conqueror might have carried his resentment and 
his arms, had fortune favoured his designs. At 
that time nothing appeared impossible to him. He 
had even sent several officers privately into Asia 
and Egypt, to take plans of the towns, and to ex- 
amine into the strength of those countries. Cer- 
tain it is, that if ever prince was able to overturn 
the empire of the Turks and Persians, and from 
thence pass into Italy, it was Charles XII. ; he 
was as young as Alexander, as brave, as enter- 
prising, more indefatigable, more robust, and more 
temperate ; and the Swedes perhaps were better 
soldiers than the iMacedonians. But such pro- 
jects, which are called divine when they succeed, 
are regarded only as chimeras when they prove 
abortive. 

At last, having removed every difficulty, and 
accomplished all his designs ; having humbled 
the emperor, given laws in the empire, protected 
the Lutheran religion in the midst of the catho- 
lics, dethroned one king, crowned another, and 
rendered himself the terror of all the princes 
around him, he begun to prepare for his depar- 
ture. The pleasures of Saxony, where he had re- 
mained inactive for a whole year, had not made 
the least alteration in his manner of living. He 
mounted his horse thrice a day, rose at four in the 
morning, dressed himself with his own hands, 
drank no wine, sat at table only a quarter of an 
hour, exercised his troops every day, and knew no 
other pleasure but that of making Europe tremble. 

The Swedes were still uncertain whither their 



CHARLES XII. 125 

king intended to lead them. They had only some 
slight suspicion that he meant to go to Moscow. A 
few days bpfore his departure, he ordered the 
grand marshal of his household, to give him in 
writing the route from Leipsic — at that word he 
paused a moment ; nnd lest the marshal should 
discover his proiect, he added, with a smile — to 
all the capital cities of Europe. The marshal 
brought him a list of all these routes, at the head 
of which he placed, in great letters, 'The route 
from Leipsic to Stockholm.' The generality of 
Swedes were extremely desirous of returning 
home ; but the king was far from the thoughts of 
carrying them back to their native country. 'Mr. 
Marshal,' says he, ' I plainly see whither you 
would lead me : but we shall not return to Stock- 
holm so soon.' 

The army was already on its march, and was 
passing by Dresden. Charles was at the head of 
his men, always riding, as usual, two or three 
hundred paces before his guards. All of a sudden 
he vanished from their sight. Some officers ad- 
vanced at full gallop to see where he was. They 
ran to all parts, but could not find him. in a mo- 
ment the alarm was spread over the whole army. 
The troops were ordered to halt; the generals 
assembled together, and were already in the ut- 
most consternation. At last they learned from a 
Saxon, who was passing by, what was become of 
the king. 

As he was passing so near Dresden, he took it 
into his head to pay a visit to Augustus. He en- 
tered the town on horseback, followed by three or 
four general officers. The sentries of the gates 
asked them their names 1 Charles said hi.s name 
was Carl, and that he was a Draban ; and all the 
rest took fictitious names. Count Flemming, seeing 
them pass through the town, had only time to run 



126 HISTORY OF 

and inform his master. All that could possibly 
be done on such an occasion immediately present- 
ed itself to the mind of that minister, who laid it 
before Augustus. But Charles entered the cham- 
ber in his boots, before Augustus had time to re- 
cover from his surprise. Augustus was then sick, 
and in his night-gown, but dressed himself in a 
hurry. Charles breakfasted with him, as a tra- 
veller who comes to take leave of his friend, and 
then expressed his desire of viewing the fortifica- 
tions. During the short time he employed in 
■walking round them, a Livonian who had been, 
condemned in Sweden, and now served in the 
Saxon army, imagining that he could never find a 
more favourable opportunity of obtaining his par- 
don, entreated Augustus to ask it of Charles, being 
fully convinced that his majesty wculd not refuse 
so small a favour to a prince from whom he had 
taken a crown, and in whose power he now was. 
Augustus readily undertook the charge. He was 
then at some distance from the king, and was 
conversing with Hord, a Swedish general. * I 
believe,' said he, smiling, * your master will not 
refuse me.' — ' You do not know him,' replied ge- 
neral Hord, ' he will rather refuse you here than 
any where else.' Augustus however did not fail 
to preter the petition in very pressing terms ; and 
Charles refused it in such a manner as to prevent 
a repetition of the request. After having passed 
some hours in this strange visit, he embraced 
Augustus, and departed. Upon rejoining his 
army, he found all his generals still in conster- 
nation. They told him they had determined to 
besiege Dresden, in case his majesty had been 
detained a prisoner. ' Right,' said the king, 
* they durst not.' Next day, upon hearing the 
news that Augustus held an extraordinary council 
at Dresden : 'You see/ said baron Stralheim, 



CHARLES XII. la? 

' they are deliberating upon what they should have 
done yesterday.' A few days after, Renschild, 
coming to wait upon the king, expressed his sur- 
prise at this unaccountable visit to Augustus. ' I 
confided,' said Charles, ' in my good fortune ; but 
I have seen the moment that might have proved 
prejudicial to me. Flemming had no mind, that I 
should le^ave Dresden so soon.' 



BOOK IV. 

Charles quits Saxony in a victorious manner; pursaes 
tbe czar ; shuts himself up in the Ukraine ; his losses; 
his wound. The battle of Pultowa ; consequences of 
that battle. Charles obliged to fly into Turkey ; his 
reception in Bessarabia. 

r^ H A RLES at last took leave of Saxony, in Sep- 
tember 1707, followed by an array of forty- 
three thousand men, formerly covered with steel, 
but now shining with gold and silver, and en- 
riched with the spoils of Poland and Saxony. 
Every soldier carried with him fifty crowns in 
ready money. Not only were all the regiments 
complete, but in every company there were seve- 
ral supernumeraries. Besides this army, count 
Levenhaupt, one of bis best generals, waited for 
him in Poland with twenty thousand men. He 
had another army of fifteen thousand in Finland ; 
and fresh recruits were coming to him from Swe- 
den. With all these forces it was not doubted but 
that he would easily dethrone the czar. 

The emperor was then in Lithuania, endea- 
vouring to reanimate a party which Augustus 
seemed to have abandoned. His troops, divided 
into several bodies, fled on all sides at the first re- 
port of the king of Sweden's approach. He him- 
self had enjoined his generals never to wait for 



128 HISTORY OF 

the conqueror with unequal forces ; and he was 
punctually obeyed. 

The king of Sweden, in the midst of his victo- 
rious march, received an ambassador from the 
Turks. The ambassador had his audience in count 
Piper's quarters ; for it was always in that mi- 
nister's tent that ceremonies of pomp were per- 
formed. On these occasions he supported the 
dignity of his master, by an appearance which had 
in it something magnificent ; and the king, who 
was always worse lodged, worse served, and more 
plainly dressed than the meanest officer in his 
array, was wont to say, that his palace w as Piper's 
quarters. The Turkish ambassador presented 
Charles with a hundred Swedish soldiers, who 
having been taken by the Calmucks, and sold in 
Turkey, had been purchased by the grand seignior, 
and sent back by that emperor as the most ac- 
ceptable present he could make to his majesty ; 
not that the Ottoman pride condescended to pay 
homage to the glory of Charles XII. but because 
the sultan, the natural enemy of the Russian and 
German emperors, was willing to fortify himself 
against them by the friendship of Sweden and the 
alliance of Poland. The ambassador compliment- 
ed Stanislaus upon his accession to the throne ; so 
that this king was acknowledged by Germany, 
France, England, Spain, and Turkey. There re- 
mained only the pope, who, before he would ac- 
knowledge him, resolved to wait till time should 
have settled on his head that crown of which a 
reverse of fortune might easily deprive it. 

Charles had no sooner given audience to the 
ambassador of the Ottoman Porte, than he went 
in pursuit of the Muscovites. The Russians, in 
the course of the war, had quitted Poland and re- 
turned to it above twenty diiferent times. That 
country, which is open on all sides, and has no 



CHARLES XII. 129 

places of strengtli to cut off the retreat of an army, 
gave the Muscovites an opportunity of sometimes 
revisiting the very spot where they had formerly 
been beat, and even of penetrating as far into the 
heart of the kingdom as the conqueror himself. 
While Charles remained in Saxony, the czar had 
advanced as far as Leopold, situated at the south- 
ern extremity of Poland. Charles was then at 
Grodno in Lithuania, a hundred leagues to the 
northward of Leopold. 

He left Stanislaus in Poland to defend his new 
kingdom, with the assistance of ten thousand 
Swedes, and that of his own subjects, against all 
his enemies, both foreign and domestic. He 
then put himself at the head of his cavalry, and 
marched amidst frost and snow to Grodno, in the 
month of January, 1708. 

He had already passed the Niemen, about two 
leagues from the town ; and the czar as yet knew 
nothing of his march. Upon the first news of the 
approach of the Swedish army, the czar quits the 
town by the north gate, and Charles enters it by 
the south. Charles had only six hundred of his 
guards with him ; the rest not being able to keep 
pace with his rapid march. The czar fled with 
above two thousand men, from an apprehension 
that a whole army was entering Grodno. That 
very day he was informed by a Polish deserter, 
that he had abandoned the place to no more than 
six hundred men, and that the main body of the 
army was still at the distance of five leagues. 
He lost no time : he detached fifteen hundred 
horse, of his own troops, in the evening, to sur- 
prise the king of Sweden in the town. This de- 
tachment, under favour of the darkness, arrived 
undiscovered at the first Swedish guard, which, 
though consisting only of thirty men, sustained, 
for half a quarter of an hour, the efforts of the 
F2 



130 HISTORY OF 

whole fifteen hundred. The king, who happened 
to be at the other end of the town, flew to their 
assistance with the rest of his six hundred men; 
upon which the Russians fled with precipitation. 
In a short time his army arrived, and he then set 
out in pursuit of the enemy. All the corps of the 
Russian army, dispersed through Lithuania, re- 
tired hastily into the palatinate of Minsky, near 
the frontiers of Muscovy, where their general ren- 
dezvous was appointed. The Swedes, who were 
likewise divided into several bodies, continued 
to pursue the enemy for more than thirty leagues. 
The fugitives and the pursuers made forced 
marches almost every day, though in the middle 
of winter. For a long time past all seasons of 
the year were become indiff'erent to the Swedes 
and Russians ; and the only difference between 
them now arose from the terror of Charles's 
arms. 

From Grodno to the Boristhenes eastward, 
there is nothing but morasses, deserts, and im- 
mense forests. In the cultivated spots there are 
no provisions to be had, the peasants burying un- 
der ground all their grain, and whatever else can 
be preserved in these subterraneous receptacles. 
In order to discover these hidden magazines, the 
earth must be pierced with long poles pointed 
with iron. The Muscovites and the Swedes 
alternately made use of these provisions ; but 
they were not always to be found, and even then 
they were not sufficient. 

The king of Sweden, who had foreseen these dif- 
ficulties, had provided biscuit for the subsistence 
of his army, and nothing could stop him in his 
march. After having traversed the forest of Min- 
sky, where he was every moment obliged to cut 
down trees in order to clear the road for his troops 
and baggage, he found himself, on the 25th of 



CHARLES XII. 131 

June, 1708, on the banks of the river Berezine, 
opposite to Borislow. 

In this place the czar had assembled the best 
part of his forces, and intrenched himself to great 
advantage. His design was to hinder the Swedes 
from crossing the river. Charles posted some 
regiments on the banks of the Berezine, over 
against Borislow, as if he meant to attempt a 
passage in the face of the enemy. Meanwhile 
he leads his army three leagues higher up the 
river, throws a bridge across it, cuts his way 
through a body of three thousand men who de- 
fended that pass, and without halting, marches 
against the main body of the enemy. The Rus- 
sians did not wait his approach, but decamped 
and retreated towards the Boristhenes, spoiling 
all the roads, and destroying every thing in their 
way, in order, at least to retard the progress of 
the Swedes. 

Charles surmounted every obstacle, and still 
advanced towards the Boristhenes. In his way 
he met with twenty thousand Muscovites, in- 
trenched in a place called Holozin, behind a 
morass, which could not be approached without 
passing a river. Charles did not delay the attack 
till the rest of his infantry should arrive : he 
plunges into the water at the head of his foot- 
guards, and crosses the river and the morass, the 
water frequently reaching above his shoulders. 
While he was thus pressing forward to the enemy, 
he ordered his cavalry to go round the morass 
and take them in flank. The Muscovites, sur- 
prised that no barrier could defend them, were 
instantly routed by the king, who attacked them 
on foot, and by the Swedish cavalry. 

The horse having forced their way through the 
enemy, joined the king in the midst of the battle. 
He then mounted on horseback j but some time 



132 HISTORY OF 

after observing in the field a young Swedish 
gentleman, named Gyllenstiern, for whom he had 
a great regard, wounded and unable to walk, he 
forced him to take his horse, and continued to 
command on foot at the head of his infantry. Of 
all the battles he had ever fought, this was per- 
haps the most glorious ; this was the one in which 
he encountered the greatest dangers, and dis- 
played the most consummate skill and prudence. 
The memory of it is still preserved by a medal, 
with this inscription on one side, Siflvce, paludes, 
aggeres, hastes vicli:* and on the other this verse 
of Lucan, Victrices copias alinm latnrus in orhem.f 

The Russians, chased from all their posts, re- 
passed the Boristhenes, which divides Poland 
from Muscovy. Charles did not give over the 
pursuit ; but followed them across the Boristhe- 
nes, which he passed at Mohilou, the last town 
of Poland, and which sometimes belongs to the 
Poles, and sometimes to the Russians ; a fate 
common to frontier places. 

The czar thus seeing his empire, where he had 
lately established the polite arts and a flourishing 
trade, exposed to a war, which in a short time, 
might overturn all his mighty projects, and per- 
haps deprive him of his crown, began to think 
seriously of peace ; and accordingly ventured to 
make some proposals for that purpose, by means 
of a Polish gentleman, whom he sent to the Swe- 
dish army. Charles XII. who had not been used 
to grant peace to his enemies, except in their 
own capitals, replied, ' I will treat with the czar 
at Moscow.' When this haughty answer was 
reported to the czar, • My brother Charles,' says 
he, ' always affects to act the Alexander ; but, 



• Woods, marshes, mounds, and enemies conquered, 
t Wafting hia warlike troops to other worlds. 



CHARLES XII. 133 

I flatter myself, he will not find in me another 
Darius.' 

From Mohilou, the place where the king passed 
the Boristhenes, as you advance towards the 
north, along the banks of that river, and always 
on the frontiers of Poland and Muscovy, you meet 
with the country of Smolensko, through which 
lies the great road that leads from Poland to 
Muscovy. This way the czar directed Lis flight ; 
and the king pursued him by long marches. Part 
of the Russian rear-guard was frequently engaged 
with the dragoons of the Swedish van-guard. The 
latter had generally the advantage ; but they 
weakened themselves even by conquering in these 
small skirmishes, which were never decisive, 
and in which they always lost a number of men. 

On the 22nd of September, 1708, the king 
attacked, near Smolensko, a body of ten thousand 
horse, and six thousand Calmucks. 

These Calmucks are Tartars, living between 
the kingdom of Astracan, which is subject to the 
czar, and that of Samarcande, belonging to the 
Usbeck Tartars, and the country of Timur, known 
by the name of Tamerlane. The country of the- 
Calmucks extends eastward to the mountains 
which divide the Mogul from the western parts 
of Asia. Those who inhabit that part of the 
country which borders upon Astracan are tri- 
butary to the czar, who pretends to an absolute 
authority over them ; but their vagrant life hin- 
ders him from making good his claim, and obliges 
him to treat them in the same manner in which 
the grand seignior treats the Arabs, sometimes 
conniving at, and sometimes punishing their rob- 
beries. There are always some of these Calmucks 
in the Russian army ; and the czar had even re- 
duced them to a regular discipline, like the rest 
of his soldiers. 



134 HISTORY OF 

The king attacked these troops with only six 
reginnents of horse, and four thousand foot ; broke 
their ranks at the first onset, at the head of hia 
Ostrogothick regiment, and obliged them to fly. 
He pursued them through rugged and hollow 
ways, where the Calmucks lay concealed, who 
soon began to shew themselves and cut off the 
regiment in which the king fought from the rest 
of the Swedish army. In an instant the Russians 
and Calmucks surrounded this regiment, and 
penetrated even to the king. Two aids-de-camp 
who fought near him fell at his feet. The king's 
horse was killed under him ; and as one of his 
equerries was presenting him with another, both 
the equerry and horse were struck dead upon the 
spot. Charles fought on foot, surrounded by 
some of his officers, who instantly flocked around 
him. 

Many of them were taken, wounded, or slain, 
or pushed to a great distance from the king by 
the crowds that assailed them ; so that he was 
left at last with no more than five attendants. 
"With his own hand he had killed above a dozen 
of the enemy, without receiving a single wound, 
owing to that surprising good fortune which had 
hitherto attended him, and upon which he always 
relied. At length a colonel, named Dardof, 
forced his way through the Calmucks, with a 
single company of his regiment, and arrived time 
enough to save the king. The rest of the Swedes 
put the Tartars to the sword. The army re- 
covered its ranks; Charles mounted his horse, 
and, fatigued as he was, pursued the Russians 
for two leagues. 

The conqueror was still in the great road to 
the capital of Muscovy. The distance from Smo- 
lensko, near which the battle was fought, to 
Moscow, is about a hundred French leagues j 



CHARLES XII. 135 

and the army began to be in want of provision. 
The officers earnestly entreated the king to wait 
till general Levenhaupt, who was coming up with 
a reinforcement of fifteen thousand men, should 
arrive. The king, who seldom indeed took counsel 
of any one, not only rejected this wholesome ad- 
vice, but, to the great astonishment of all the army, 
quitted the road to Moscow, and began to march 
southwards towards the Ukraine, the country of 
the Cossacks, lying between Little Tartary, Po- 
land, and Muscovy, This country extends about 
a hundred French leagues from south to north, 
and almost as many from east to west. It is di- 
vided into two parts, almost equal, by the Boris- 
thenes, which runs from the north-west to the 
Bouth-east. The chief town is called Bathurin, and 
is situated upon the little river Sem. The northern 
part of the Ukraine is rich and well cultivated. 
The southern, lying in the forty-eighth degree of 
latitude, is one of the most fertile countries in the 
world, and yet one of the most desolate. Its bad 
form of government stifles in embryo, as it were, 
all the blessings which nature, if properly en- 
couraged, would shower down upon the inhabi- 
tants. '.The people of these cantons neither sow 
nor plant, because the Tartars of Budziack, Pre- 
cop, and Moldavia, all of them free-hooters and 
banditti, would rob them of their harvests. 

Ukrania hath always aspired to liberty ; but 
being surrounded by Muscovy, the dominions of 
the grand seignior, and Poland, it has been 
obliged to choose a protector, and consequently a 
master, in one of these three states. The Ukra- 
nians at first put themselves under the protec- 
tion of the Poles, who treated them with great 
severity. They afterwards submitted to the Rus- 
sians, who governed them with despotic sway. 
They had originally the privilege of electing a 



136 HISTORY OF 

prince under the name of general ; but they were 
soon deprived of that right ; and their general 
was nominated by the court of Moscow. 

The person who then filled that station was a 
Polish gentleman, named Mazeppa, and born in 
the palatinate of Podolia. He had been brought 
up as a page to John Casimir, and had received 
some tincture of learning in his court. An in- 
trigue, which he had had in his youth with the 
lady of a Polish gentleman, having been dis- 
covered, the husband caused him to be bound 
stark-naked upon a wild horse, and let him go in 
that condition. The horse, who had been brought 
out of Ukrania, returned to his own country, and 
carried Mazeppa along with him, half-dead with 
hunger and fatigue. Some of the country people 
gave him assistance ; and he lived among them 
for a long time, and signalized himself in several 
excursions against the Tartars. The superiority 
of his knowledge gained him great respect among 
the Cossacks ; and his reputation daily increas- 
ing, the czar found it necessary to make him 
prince of Ukrania. 

While he was one day at table with the czar 
at Moscow, the emperor proposed to him'to dis- 
cipline the Cossacks, and to render them more 
dependent. Mazeppa replied, that the situation 
of Ukrania, and the genius of the nation, were 
insuperable obstacles to such a scheme. The czar 
who began to be overheated with wine, and who 
had not always the command of his passions, 
called him a traitor, and threatened to have him 
impaled. 

Mazeppa, on his return to Ukrania, formed the 
design of a revolt ; and the execution of it was 
greatly facilitated by the Swedish army, which 
soon after appeared on his frontiers. He resolved 
to render himself independent, and to erect Ukra- 



CHARLES XII. 137 

nia and some other ruins of the Russian empire 
into a powerful kingdom. Brave, enterprising, 
and indefatigable, though advanced in years, he 
entered into a secret league with the king of 
Sweden, to hasten the downfal of the czar, and 
to convert it to his own advantage. 

The king appointed the rendezvous near the 
river Desna. Mazeppa promised to meet him 
there at the head of thirty thousand men, with 
ammunition and provisions, and all his treasures, 
which were immense. The Swedish army there- 
fore continued its march on that side, to the great 
grief of all the officers, who knew nothing of the 
king's treaty with the Cossacks. Charles sent 
orders to Levenhaupt to bring his troops and pro- 
visions with all possible dispatch into Ukrania, 
where he proposed to pass the winter, that, 
having once secured that country, he might the 
more easily conquer Muscovy in the ensuing 
spring ; and, in the mean time, he advanced to- 
wards the river Desna, which falls into the Bo- 
risthenes at Kiou. 

The obstructions they had hitherto found in 
their march were but trifling, in comparison of 
what th^y met with in this new road. They were 
obliged to cross a marshy forest fifty leagues in. 
length. General Lagexcron, who marched before 
with five thousand soldiers and pioneers, led the 
army astray to the eastward, thirty leagues from 
the right road. It was not till after a march of 
four days that the king discovered the mistake. 
With great difficulty they regained the main 
road ; but almost all their artillery and waggons 
were lost, being either stuck fast, or quite sunk 
in the mud. 

At last, after a march of twelve days, attended 
with so many vexations and untoward circum- 
stances, during which they had consumed the 



138 HISTORY OF 

small quantity of biscuit that was left, the army, 
exhausted with hunger and fatigue, arrived on the 
banks of the Desna, in the very spot which Ma- 
xeppa had marked out as the place of rendez- 
vous ; but instead of meeting with that prince, 
they found a body of Muscovites advancing to- 
wards the other bank of the river. The king was 
astonished, but resolved immediately to pass the 
Desna and attack the enemy. The banks of the 
river were so steep, that they were obliged to let 
the soldiers down with ropes. They crossed it 
in their usual manner, some on floats which were 
made in haste, and others by swimming. The 
body of Muscovites which arrived at the same 
time did not exceed eight thousand men ; so that 
it made but little resistance, and this obstacle 
• was also surmounted. 

Charles advanced further into this desolate 
country, alike uncertain of his road and of Mazep- 
pa's fidelity. That Cossack appeared at last, 
but rather like a fugitive than a powerful ally. 
The Muscovites had discovered and defeated his 
design ; they had fallen upon the Cossacks and 
cut them in pieces. His principal friends being 
taken sword in hand, had, to the number of thirty, 
been broke upon the wheel ; his towns were re- 
duced to ashes ; his treasures plundered ; the 
provisions he was preparing for the king of 
Sweden seized ; and it was with great diflBculty 
that he himself made his escape with six thousand 
men, and some horses loaden with gold and sil- 
ver. However he gave the king some hopes that 
he should be able to assist him by his intelligence 
in that unknown country, and by the afl'ection of 
all the Cossacks, who, being enraged against the 
Russians, flocked to the camp and supplied the 
army with provisions. 

Charles hoped that general Leveuhauptat least 



CHARLES XII. 139 

would come and repair this misfortune. He was 
to bring with him about fifteen thousand Swedes, 
who were better than a hundred thousand Cos- 
sacks, together with ammunition and provisions. 
At length, he arrived, in much the same con- 
dition with Mazeppa. 

He had already passed the Boristhenes above 
Mohilou, and advanced twenty leagues beyond 
k, on the road to Ukraine. He was bringing the 
king a convoy of eight thousand waggons, with 
the money which he had levied in his march 
through Lithuania. As he approached the town 
of Lesno, near the conflux of the rivers Pronia 
and Sossa, which fall into the Boristhenes far 
below, the czar appeared at the head of nearly 
forty thousand men. 

The Swedish general, who had not sixteen 
thousand complete, scorned to shelter himself in 
a fortified camp. A long train of victories had 
inspired the Swedes with so much confidence, 
that they never informed themselves of the num- 
ber of their enemies, but only of the place where 
they lay. Accordingly, on the 7th of October 1708, 
in the afternoon, Levenhaupt advanced against 
them with great resolution. In the first attack 
the Swedes killed fifteen hundred Russians, The 
czar's army was thrown into great confusion and 
fled on all sides. The emperor of Russia saw 
himself upon the point of being entirely defeated. 
He was sensible that the safety of his dominions 
depended upon the success of this day, and that 
he would be utterly ruined, should Levenhaupt 
join the king of Sweden with a victorious army. 

The moment he saw his troops begin to flinch, 
he ran to the rear-guard, where the Cossacks and 
Calmucks were posted. • i charge ygu,' said he 
to them, ' to fire upon every one that runs away, 
and even to kill me, should I be so cowardly as 



140 HISTORY OF , 

to fly.' From thence he returned to the ran- 
guard, and rallied his troops in person, assisted 
by the princes Menzikoff and Galitzin. Leven- 
haupt, who had received strict orders to rejoin 
his master, chose rather to continue his march 
than renew the battle, imagining he had done 
enough to prevent the enemy from pursuing him. 

Next morning, about eleven o'clock, the czar 
attacked him near a morass, and extended his^ 
lines with a view to surround him. The Swedes 
faced about on all sides; and the battle waa 
maintained for the space of two hours, with equal 
courage and obstinacy. The loss of the Musco- 
vites was three times greater than that of the 
Swedes; the former, however, still kept their 
ground, and the victory was left undecided. 

At four in the afternoon general Baur brought 
the czar a reinforcement of troops. The battle 
was then renewed for the third time with more fury 
and eagerness than ever, and lasted till night put 
an end to the combat. At last superior numbers 
prevailed, the Swedes were broke, routed, and 
driven back to their baggage. Levenhaupt rallied 
bis troops behind the waggons. The Swedes 
were conquered, but disdained to fly. They were 
still about nine thousand in number, and not so 
much as one of them deserted. The general 
drew them up with as much ease as if they had 
not been vanquished. The czar on the other 
side, remained all night under arms; and forbade 
his officers, under pain of being cashiered, and his 
soldiers, under pain of deaths to leave their rank* 
for the sake of plunder. 

Next morning, at day-break, he ordered afresh 
assault. Levenhaupt had retired to an advan- 
tageous situation, ac the distance of a few miles» 
after having nailed up part of his cannon, and set 
fire to his waggons. 



CHARLES XII. 141 

The Muscovites arrived time enough to pre- 
vent the whole convoy from being consumed by 
the flames. They seized about six thousand 
waggons, which they saved. The czar, desirous 
of completing the defeat of the Swedes, sent one 
of his generals, named Phlug, to attack them 
again for the fifth time. That general offered 
them an honourable capitulation. Levenhaupt 
refused it, and fought a fifth battle, as bloody as 
any of the former. Of the nine thousand sol- 
diers he had left, he lost about one half in this 
action, and the other remained unbroken. At 
last, night coming on, Levenhaupt, after having 
sustained five battles against forty thousand men, 
passed the Sossa with about five thousand sol- 
diers that remained. The czar lost about ten 
thousand men in these five engagements, in which 
he had the glory of conquering the Swedes, and 
Levenhaupt that of disputing the victory for 
three days, and of effecting a retreat, without 
being obliged to surrender. Thus he arrived iu 
his master's camp with the honour of having 
made such a noble defence ; but bringing with 
him neither ammunition nor an army. 

By these means Charles found himself desti- 
tute of provisions, cut off from all communication 
with Poland, and surrounded with enemies, in 
the heart of a country where he had no resource 
but his own courage. 

In this extremity the memorable winter of 
1709, which was still more terrible in those 
quarters of the world than in France, destroyed 
part of his army. Charles resolved to brave the 
seasons, as he had done his enemies ; and ven- 
tured to make long marches with his troops dur- 
ing this mortal cold. It was in one of these 
marches that two thousand men fell dead with 
cold before his eyes. The dragoons had no boots. 



14» HISTORY OF 

and the foot soldiers were without shoes, and 
almost without clothes. They were forced to 
make stockings of the skins of wild beasts, in the 
best manner they could. They were frequently 
in want of bread. They were obliged to throw 
almost all their cannon into the marshes and 
rivers, for want of horses to draw them ; so that 
this army, which was once so flourishing, was 
reduced to twenty-four thousand men ready to 
perish with hunger. They no longer received 
any news from Sweden, nor were able to send 
any thither. In this condition only one oflScer 
complained, ' What,' said the king to him, * are 
you uneasy at being so far from your wife 1 If 
you are a good soldier, I will lead you to 
such a distance, that you shall hardly be able 
to receive news from Sweden once in three 
years.' 

The marquis de Brancas, afterwards ambas- 
sador in Sweden, told me, that a soldier ven» 
tared, in presence of the whole army, to present 
to the king, with an air of complaint, a piece of 
bread that was black and mouldy, made of 
barley and oats, which was the only food they 
then had, and of which they had not even a suf- 
ficient quantity. The king received the bit of 
bread without the least emotion, eat it up, and 
then said coldly to the soldier, ' It is not good, 
but it may be eaten.' This incident, trifling as 
it is, if indeed any thing that increases respect 
and confidence can be said to be trifling, contri- 
buted more than all the rest to make the Swedish 
army support those hardships, which would have 
been intolerable under any other general. 

While he was in this situation, he at last re- 
ceived a packet from Stockholm, by which he was. 
informed of the death of his sister, the duchess 
of Hol8tein» who was carried off by the smaM 



CHARLES Xll. 143 

pox, in the month of December, 1708, in the 
twenty-seventh year of her age. She was a 
princess as mild and gentle as her brother was 
imperious in his disposition, and implacable in 
his revenge. He had always entertained a great 
affection for her ; and was the more afflicted with 
her death, that now beginning to taste of misfor- 
tunes himself, he was of course become themoi« 
susceptible of tender impressions. 

By this packet he was likewise informed , that 
they had raised money and troops, in obedience 
to his orders ; but nothing could reach his camp, 
as between him and Stockholm there were near 
five hundred leagues to travel, and an enemy su- 
perior in number to engage. 

The czar, who was as active as the king of 
Sweden, after having sent some fresh troops to 
the assistance of the confederates in Poland, 
who, under the command of general Siniauski, 
exerted their joint efforts against Stanislaus, im- 
mediately advanced into the Ukraine, in the 
midst of this severe winter, to make head against 
Lis Swedish majesty. Then he continued to 
pursue the political scheme he had formed of 
■weakening his enemy by petty rencounters, 
wisely judging, that the Swedish army must in 
the end be entirely ruined, as it could not possi- 
bly be recruited. The cold must certainly have 
been very severe, as it obliged the two monarchs 
to agree to a suspension of arms. But on the 
1st of February they renewed their military ope- 
rations, in the midst of frost and snow. 

After several slight skirmishes, and some 
losses, the king perceived in the month of April, 
that he had only eighteen thousand Swedes re- 
maining. Mazeppa, the prince of the Cossacks, 
supplied them with provisions : without his as- 
sistance, the army must have perished with want 



144 HISTORY OF 

and hunger. At this conjuncture, the czaT made 
proposals to Mazeppa for submitting again to his 
authority. But whether it was that the terrible 
punishment of the wheel, by which his friends 
had perished, made the Cossack apprehend the 
same danger for himself, or that he was desirous 
of revenging their death, he continued faithful 
to his new ally. 

Charles, with his eighteen thousand Swedes, 
had neither laid aside the design nor the hopes of 
penetrating to Moscow. Towards the end of 
May he laid siege to Pukowa, upon the rivei 
Vorskla, at the eastern extremity of the Ukraine, 
and thirty leagues from the Boristhenes. This 
country is inhabited by the Zaporavians, the most 
remarkable people in the universe. They are a 
collection of ancient Russians, Poles, and Tar- 
tars, professing a species of Christianity, and ex- 
ercising a kind of free-booting, somewhat a-kin 
to that of the buccaniers. They choose a chief, 
whom they frequently depose or strangle: ihey 
allow no women to live among them ; but they 
carry off all the children from twenty to thirty 
leagues around, and bring them up in their own 
manners. The summer they always pass in the 
open fields ; in winter they shelter themselves 
in large barns, containing four or five thousand 
men. They fear nothing; they live free; they 
brave death for the smallest booty, with as much 
intrepidity as Charles XII. did, in order to ob- 
tain the power of bestowing crowns. The czar 
gave them sixty thousand florins, hoping by this 
means to engage them in his interest. They took 
his money: and, influenced by the powerful elo- 
quence of Mazeppa, declared in favour of Charles 
XII. but their service was of very little conse- 
quence, as they think it the most egregious folly 
to fight for any thing but plunder. It was no 



CHARLES XII. 145 

small advantage, however, that they were pre- 
vented from doing harm. The number of their 
troops was, at most, but about two thousand. 
One morning teu of their chiefs were presented 
to the king ; but it was with great difficulty they 
could be prevailed upon to remain sober, as they 
commonly begin the day by getting drunk. They 
were brought to the intrenchments, where they 
shewed their dexterity in firing with long car- 
bines ; for being placed upon the mounds they 
killed such of the enemy as they picked out at 
the distance of two hundred paces. To these 
banditti Charles added some thousands of Wala- 
chians, whom he had hired from the cham of 
Little Tartary ; and thus laid siege to Pultowa, 
with all these troops of Zaporavians, Cossacks, 
and Walachians, which joined to his eighteen 
thousand Swedes, composed an army of about 
thirty thousand men; but an army in a wretched 
condition and in want of every thing. The czar 
had formed a magazine in Pultowa : if the king 
should take it, he would open himself a way to 
Muscovy ; and be able at least, amidst the great 
abundance he would then possess, to wait the 
arrival of the succours which he still expected 
from Sweden, Livonia, Pomerania, and Poland. 
His only resource therefore being in the con- 
quest of Pultowa, he pressed the siege of it with 
great vigour. Mazeppa, who carried on a cor- 
respondence with some of the citizens, assured 
him that he would soon be master of it ; and 
this assurance revived the hopes of the soldiers, 
who considered the taking of Pultowa as the end 
of all their miseries. 

The king perceived, from the beginning of the 

fiiege, that he had taught his enemies the art 

of war. In spite of all his precautions, princ€ 

Menzikoff threw some fresh troops into the tow^ ; 

G 



146 HISTORY OF 

by which means the garrison was rendered almost 
five thousand strong. 

They made several sallies, and sometimes with 
success : they likewise sprung a mine ; but what 
saved the town from being taken was the approach 
of the czar, who was advancing with seventy 
thousand men. Charles went to reconnoitre 
them on the 27th of May, which happened to 
be on his birth-day, and beat one of their de- 
tachments ; but, as he was returning to his camp, 
he received a shot from a carbine, which pierced 
his boot and shattered the bone of his heel. 
There was not the least alteration observable in 
his countenance, from which it could be suspected 
that he had received a wound. He continued to 
give his orders with great composure ; and after 
this accident remained almost six hours on horse- 
back. One of his domestics observing that the 
sole of the king's boot was bloody, made haste to 
call the surgeons ; and the pain was now become 
so exquisite, that they were obliged to assist 
him in dismounting, and to carry him to his tent. 
The surgeons examined the wound, and were of 
opinion that the leg must be cut off, which threw 
the army into the utmost consternation. But 
one of the surgeons, named Newman, who had 
more skill and courage than the rest, affirmed, 
that by making deep incisions he could save the 
king's leg. • Fall to work then presently,' said 
the king to him : ' cut boldly, and fear nothing.' 
He himself held the leg with both his hands, and 
beheld the incisions that were made in it, as if 
the operation had been performed upon another 
person. 

As they were laying on the dressing he or- 
dered an assault to be made the next morning ; 
but he had hardly given these orders, when ho 
was informed that the whole army of the enemy 



CHARLES XII. 147 

was advancing against him ; in consequence of 
•which he was obliged to alter his resolution. 
Charles, wounded and incapable of acting, saw 
himself cooped up between the Bori&thenes and 
the river that runs to Pultowa, in a desert coun- 
try, without any places of security, or ammuni- 
tion, in the face of an army, which at once cut 
off his retreat, and prevented his being supplied 
with provisions. In this extremity, he did not 
assemble a council of war, as, considering the 
perplexed situation of his affairs, he ought to 
have done ; but on the 7th or 8th of July, in the 
evening, he sent for velt-mareschal Renschild to 
his tent ; and, without deliberation, or the least 
discomposure, ordered him to make the neces- 
sary dispositions for attacking the czar next day. 
Renschild made no objections, and went to carry 
his orders into execution. At the door of the 
king's tent he met count Piper, with whom he 
had long lived on very bad terms, as frequently 
happens between the minister and the general. 
Piper asked him if he had any news : • No,' 
said the general coldly, and passed on to give 
his orders. As soon as count Piper had en- 
tered the tent ; ' Has Renschild told you no- 
thing ?' said the king: ' Nothing,' replied Piper; 
* Well then,' resumed he, ' I tell you, that we 
shall give battle to-morrow.* Count Piper was 
astonished at such a desperate resolution : but, 
well knowing that it was impossible to make his 
master change his mind, he expressed his sur- 
prise only by silence ; and left Charles to sleep 
till break of day. 

It was on the 8th of July, 1709, that the de- 
cisive battle of Pultowa was fought between the 
two most famous monarchs that were then in the 
world. Charles XII. illustrious for nine years of 
victories ; Peter Alexiowitx for nine years of 



148 HISTORY OF 

pains taken to form troops equal to those of 
Sweden : the one glorious for having given awa^ 
dominions ; the other for having civilized his own : 
Charles, fond of dangers, and fighting for glory 
alone ; Alexiowitz scorning to fly from danger, 
and never making war but from interested views : 
the Swedish monarch liberal from an innate great- 
ness of soul ;* the Muscovite never granting fa- 
vours but in order to serve some particular people : 
the former a prince of uncommon sobriety and 
continence, naturally magnanimous, and nevet 
cruel but once ; the latter having not yet worn oflF 
the roughness of his education, or the barbarity 
of his country, as much the object of terror to his 
subjects as of admiration to strangers, and too 
prone to excesses, which even shortened his days. 
Charles had the title of ' Invincible,' of which a 
single moment might deprive him ; the neighbour- 
ing nations had already given Peter Alexiowitz 
the name of * Great,' which, as he did not owe it 
to his victories, he could not forfeit by a defeat. 

In order to form a distinct idea of this battle, 
and the place where it was fought, we must figure 
to ourselves Pultowa on the north, the camp of 
the king of Sweden on the south, stretching a little 

• "We cannot perceive the least tincture of liberality 
or greatness of soul in Charles. He might indeed have 
made himself king of Poland by dint of violence, but the 
consequence of that violence would have disabled him 
from gratifying his revenge, which seems to have beea 
the predominant passion of his soul. Had he ascended 
the throne of Poland, he must have maintained an army 
of Swedes in that kingdom, consequently' he could not 
have advanced to the banks of the Boristhenes io pursuit 
of Peter Alexiowitz. We find in Charles an insensibility 
of danger, a contempt of wealth, a clownishness of man- 
ners, a brutality of disposition, an implacable thirst of 
revenge and dominion ; without taste, sentiment, or hu- 
manity, 



CHARLES XII. 149 

towards the east, his baggage about a mile behind 
him, and the river of Pultowa on the north of the 
town, running from east to west. 

The czar had passed the river about a league 
from Pultowa, towards the west, and was begin- 
ning to form his camp. 

At break of day the Swedes appeared before 
the trenches with four iron cannons for their whole 
artillery ; the rest were left in the camp, with 
about three thousand men, and four thousand re- 
mained with the baggage ; so that the Swedish 
armj which advanced against the enemy, con- 
sisted of about one and twenty thousand men, of 
which about sixteen thousand only were regular 
troops. 

The generals Renschild, Roos, Levenhaupt, 
Slipenbak, Hoorn, Sparre, Hamilton, the prince 
of Wirtemberg, the king's relation, and some 
others, who had most of them seen the battle of 
Narva, put the subaltern officers in mind of that 
day, when eight thousand Swedes defeated an 
army of eighty thousand Muscovites in their in- 
trenchments. The officers exhorted the soldiers 
by the same motive, and as they advanced they 
all encouraged one another. 

Charles, carried in a litter at the head of his 
infantry, conducted the march. A party of horse 
advanced by his order to attack that of the enemy ; 
and the battle began with this engagement at half 
an hour past four in the morning. The enemy's 
horse was posted towards the west, on the right 
side of the Russian camp. Prince Menzikoff and 
count Gallowin had placed them at certain dis- 
tances between two redorfbts lined with cannon. 
General .Slipenbak, at tiie head of the Swedes, 
rushed upon them. All those who have served 
in the .Swedish troops are sensible that it is almost 
impuasible to withstand the fury of their first at- 



160 HISTORY OF 

tack. The Muscovite squadrons were broken and 
routed. The czar ran up to rally them in person ; 
his hat was pierced with a musket ball ; Menzikoff 
had three horses killed under hi*, and the Swedes 
cried out Victory. 

Charles did not doubt but the battle was gained. 
About midnight he had sent general Creutz with 
five thousand horse or dragoons to take the enemy 
in flank, while he attacked them in front ; but as 
his ill fortune would have it, Creutz mistook his 
wa}', and did not make his appearance. The czar, 
who thought he was ruined, had time to rally his 
cavalry, and in his turn fell upon that of the king, 
which, not being supported by the detachment of 
Creutz, was likewise broken. Slipenbak was 
taken prisoner in this engagement. At the same 
time seventy-two pieces of cannon played from 
the camp upon the cavalry ; and the Russian foot, 
opening their lines, advanced, to attack Charles's 
infantry. 

After this the czar detached prince Menzikoff 
to go and take post between Pultowa and the 
Swedes. Prince Menzikoft' executed his master's 
orders with dexterity and expedition. He not 
only cut off the communication between the 
Swedish army and the camp before Pultowa ; but, 
having met with a corps de reserve, he surround- 
ed them and cut them in pieces. If Menzikoff 
performed this exploit of his own accord, Russia 
is indebted to him for its preservation : if it was 
by the orders of the czar, he was an adversary 
worthy of Charles XII. Meanwhile the Russian 
infantry came out of their lines, and advanced 
into the plain in order of battle. On the other 
hand, the Swedish cavalry rallied within a quar* 
ter of a league from the enemy ; and the king, 
assisted by velt-mareschal Renschild, made the 
necessary dispositions for a general engagement. 



CHARLES XII. 151 

He ranged the few troops that were left him in 
two lines, his infantry occupying the centre and 
his cavalry forming the two wings. The czar 
disposed his army in the same manner. He had 
the advantage of numbers, and of seventy-two 
pieces of cannon, while the Swedes had no more 
than four to oppose to him, and began to be in 
want of powder. 

The emperor of Muscovy was in the centre of 
his army, having then only the title of major-ge- 
neral, and seemed to obey general Sheremeto. But 
he rode from rank to rank in the character of em- 
peror, mounted on a Turkish horse, which had 
been given him in a present by the grand seignior, 
animating the captains and soldiers, and promis- 
ing rewards to them ail. 

At nine in the morning the battle was renewed. 
One of the first discharges of the Russian cannon 
carried oflf the two horses of Charles's litter. He 
caused two others to be immediately put to it. A 
second discharge broke the litter in pieces, and 
overturned the king. Of four and twenty Dra- 
bants, who mutually relieved each other in carry- 
ing him, one and twenty were killed. The Swedes, 
struck with consternation, began to stagger ; and 
the cannon of the enemy continuing to mow them 
down, the first line fell back upon the second, and 
the second began to fly. In this last action it was 
only a single line of ten thousand Russian in- 
fantry that routed the Swedish army — so much 
were matters changed! 

All the Swedish writers allege, tii at they would 
have gained the battle, if they had not committed 
several blunders ; but all the officers affirm, that 
it was a great blunder to give battle at all, and 
a greater still to shut themselves up in a desert 
country, against the advice of the most prudent 
generals, in opposition to a warlike enemy, three 



152 HISTORY OF 

times stronger than Charles, both in number of 
men, and in the many resources from which the 
Swedes were entirely cut off. The remembrance 
of Narva was the chief cause of Charles's misfor- 
tune at Pultowa. 

The prince of Wirtemberg, general Renschild, 
and several principal officers were already made 
prisoners ; the camp before Pultowa was stormed ; 
and all was thrown into a confusion which it was 
impossible to rectify. Count Piper, with some 
officers of the chancery, had left the camp, and 
neither knew what to do, nor what was become of 
the king ; but ran about from one corner of the 
field to another. A major, called Bere, offered 
to conduct them to the baggage ; but the clouds 
of dust and smoke which covered the plain, and 
the dissipation of mind so natural amidst such a 
desolation, brought thera straight to the counter- 
scarp of the town, were they were all made pri- 
soners by the garrison. 

The king scorned to fly, and yet was unable to 
defend himself. General Poniatowsky happened 
to be near him at that instant. He was a colonel 
of Stanislaus' Swedish guards, a man of extraor- 
dinary merit, and had been induced, from his 
strong attachment to the person of Charles, to 
follow him into the Ukraine, without any post in 
the army. He was a man, who, in all the occur- 
rences of life, and amidst those dangers, when 
others would at most have displayed their courage, 
always took his measures with dispatch, pru- 
dence, and success. He made a sign to two Dra- 
bants, who took the king under the arm, and 
placed him on his horse, notwithstanding the ex- 
quisite pain of his wounds. 

Poniatowsky, though he had no command in 
the army, became on this occasion a general 
tJirough necessity, and drew up five hundred horse 



CHARLES XII. 153 

near the king's person ; some of them Drabants, 
others officers, and a few private troopers. This 
body being assembled and animated by the mis- 
fortune of their prince, forced their way through 
more than ten Russian regiments, and conducted 
Charles through the midst of the enemy, for the 
space of a league, to the baggage of the Swedish 
army. 

Charles, being closely pursued in his flight, had 
his horse killed under him; and colonel Gieta, 
though wounded and spent with loss of blood, 
gave him his. Thus in the course of the flight they 
twice put this conqueror on horseback, though he 
had not been able to mount a horse during the 
engagement. 

This surprising retreat was of great conse- 
quence in such distressful circumstances ; but he 
was obliged to fly to a still greater distance. They 
found count Piper's coach among the baggage ; for 
the king had nevei used one since he left Stock- 
holm : they p<it him into this vehicle, and fled to- 
wards the Boristhenes with great precipitation. 
The king, who, from the time of his being set on 
horseback till his arrival at the baggage, had not 
spoke a single word, at length inquired, what was 
become of count Piper? They told him he was 
taken prisoner, with all the officers of the chan- 
cery, ' And general Renschild and the duke of 
Wirtemberg V added the king. ♦ Yes,' says Po- 
niatowsky. ' Prisoners to the Russians !' resumed 
Charles, shrugging up his shoulders. ' Come, then, 
let us rather go to the Turks.' They could not 
perceive however the least mark of dejection in 
his countenance ; and had any one seen him at 
that time, without knowing his situation, he would 
never have suspected that he was conquered and 
wounded. 

While he was getting off, the Russians seized 
G2 



154 HISTORY OF 

his artillery in ibe camp before Pnltowa, his bag- 
gage, and his military chest, in which they found 
six millions in specie, the spoils of Poland aud 
Saxony. Nine thousand men, partly Swedes and 
partly Cossacks, were killed in the battle, and 
about six thousand taken prisoners. There still 
remained about sixteen thousand men, including 
the Swedes, Poles, and Cossacks, who fled towards 
the Boristhenes, under conduct of general Leven- 
haupt. He marched one way with his fugitive 
troops, and the king took another road with some 
of his horse. The coach in which he rode broke 
down by the way, and they again set him on horse- 
back ; and, to complete his misfortune, he wan- 
dered all night in a wood ; where, his courage 
being no longer able to support his exhausted 
spirits, the pain of his wound becoming more in- 
tolerable through fatigue, and his horse falling 
under him through excessive weariness, he lay 
some hours at the foot of a tree, in danger of being 
surprised every moment by the conquerors, who 
•were searching for him on all sides. 

At last, on the 9th or lOth of J uly, at night, h« 
found himself on the banks of the Boristhenes, 
Levenhaupt had just arrived with the shattered 
remains of his army. It was with an equal mix- 
ture of joy and sorrow tbat the Swedes again be- 
held their king, whom they thought to be dead. 
The enemy was approaching. The Swedes had 
neither a bridge to pass the river, nor time to 
make one, nor powder to defend themselves, nor 
provisions to support an army, which had eat no- 
thing for two days. But the remains of this army 
were Swedes, and the conquered king was Charles 
XII. Most of ihe officers imagined that they were 
to halt there for tbe Russians, without flinching ; 
and that they would either conquer or die, on the 
banks of the Boristhenes. Charles would un- 



CHARLES XII. 155 

doubledly have taken this resolution, had he not 
been exhausted with weakness. His wound was 
now come to a suppuration, attended with a fever ; 
and it hath been remarked, that men of the great- 
est intrepidity, when seized with the fever thati3 
common in a suppuration, lose that impulse to 
valour, which, like all other virtues, requires the 
direction of a clear head. Charles was no longer 
himself. This, at least, is what I have been well 
assured of, and what indeed is extremely proba- 
ble. They carried him along like a sick person 
in a state of insensibility. Happily there was left 
a sorry calash, which by chance they had brought 
along with them : this they put on board a little 
boat ; and the king and general Mazeppa em- 
barked in another. The latter had saved several 
coffers full of money ; but the current being rapid, 
and a violent wind beginning to blow, the Cossack 
threw more than three-fourths of his treasures into 
the river to lighten the boat. Mullern, the king's 
chancellor, and count Poniatowsky, a man more 
necessary to the king than ever, on account of his 
admirable dexterity in finding expedients for all 
difficulties, crossed over in some barks with some 
officers. Three hundred troopers of the king's 
guards, and a great number of Poles and Cossacks, 
trusting to the goodness of their horses, ventured 
to pass the river by swiming. Their troop, keep- 
ing close together, resisted the current, and broke 
the waves ; but all those who attempted to pass 
separately a little below were carried down by the 
stream, and sunk in the river. Of all the foot 
who attempted to pass, there was not a single 
man that reached the other side. 

While the shattered remains of the army were 
in this extremity, prince Menzikoff came up with 
ten thousand horsemen, having each a foot sol- 
dier behind him. The carcases of the Swedes, 



156 HISTORY OF 

who had died by the way, of their wounds, fatigue, 
and hunger, shewed Prince lAienzikofF but too 
plainly the road which the fugitive army had 
taken. The prince sent a trumpet to the Swedish 
general, to offer him a capitulation. Four gene- 
ral oflScers were presently dispatched by Leven- 
haupt to receive the commands of the conqueror. 
Before that day, sixteen thousand soldiers of king 
Charles would have attacked the whole forces of 
the Russian empire, and would have perished to 
a man rather than surrender : but, after the loss 
of a battle, and a flight of two days, deprived of the 
presence of their prince, who was himself con- 
strained to fly, the strength of every soldier being 
exhausted, and their courage no longer supported 
by the least prospect of relief, the love of life 
overcame their natural intrepidity. ColonelTrout- 
fetre alone, observing the Muscovites approach, 
began to advance with one Swedish battalion to 
attack them, hoping by this means to induce the 
rest of the troops to follow his example. But 
Levenhaupt was obliged to oppose this unavailing 
ardour. The capitulation was settled, and the 
whole army were made prisoners of war. Some 
soldiers, reduced to despair, at the thoughts of 
falling into the hands of the Muscovites, threw 
themselves into the Boristhenes. Two officers of 
the regiment commanded by the brave Troutfetre 
killed each other, and the rest were made slaves. 
They all filed off in presence of prince Menzi- 
koff, laying their arms at his feet, as thirty thou- 
sand Muscovites had done nine years before at 
those of the king of Sweden, at Narva. But 
whereas the king sent back al! the Russians, 
whom he did not fear, the czar retained the 
Swedes that were taken at Pultowa. 

These unhappy creatures were afterwards dis- 
persed through the czar's dominions^ particularly 



CHARLES XII. 157 

in Siberia, a vast province of great Tartary, 
which extends eastward to the frontiers of the 
Chinese empire. In tliis barbarous country, 
where even the use of bread was unknown, the 
Swedes, who were become ingenious through ne- 
cessity, exercised the trades and employments of 
which they had the least notion. All the dis- 
tinctions which fortune makes among men were 
then banished. The officer, who could not fol- 
low any trade, was obliged to cleave and carry 
wood for the soldier, now turned tailor, clothier, 
joiner, mason, or goldsmith, and who got a sub- 
sistence by his labour. Some of the officers be- 
came painters, and other architects : some of them 
taught the languages and mathematics. They even 
established some public schools, which in time be- 
came so useful and famous that the citizens of 
Moscow sent their children thither for education. 

Count Piper, the king of Sweden's first minis- 
ster, was for a long time confined in prison at 
Petersburg. The czar was persuaded, as. well as 
the rest of Europe, that this minister had sold 
his master to the duke of Marlborough, and drawn 
on Muscovy the arms of Sweden, which might 
have given peace to Europe ; for which reason 
he rendered his confinement the more severe. 
Piper died in Muscovy a few years after, little 
assisted by his own family, which lived in opu- 
lence at Stockholm, and vainly lamented by his 
sovereign, who would never condescend to oflfer 
a ransom for his minister, which he feared the 
czar would not accept of ; for no cartel of ex- 
change had ever been settled between them. 

The emperor of Muscovy, elated with a joy 
which he was at no pains to conceal, received 
upon the field of battle the prisoners, whom they 
brought to him in crowds ; and asked every me- 
ment, • Where then is my brother Chariest' 



158 HISTORY OF 

He did the Swedish generals the honour of in- 
riting them to dine with him. Among other 
questions which he put to them, he asked gene- 
ral Renschild, what might be the number of hia 
master's troops before the battle 1 Renschild an- 
swered, that the king always kept the muster-roll 
himself, and would never shew it to any one ; 
but that, for his own part, he imagined the whole 
might be about thirty thousand, of which eighteen 
thousand were Swedes, and the rest Cossacks. 
The czar seemed to be surprised, and asked how 
they durst venture to penetrate into so distant a 
country, and lay siege to Pultowa with such a 
handful of men 1 'We were not always con- 
sulted,' replied the Swedish general ; ' but, like 
faithful servants, we obeyed our master's orders, 
without ever presuming to contradict them.' 
The czar, upon receiving this answer, turned 
about to some of his courtiers, who were formerly 
suspected of having engaged in a conspiracy 
against him: *Ah!' says he, 'see how a king 
should be served ;' and then taking a glass of 
wine, ' To the health,' says he, ' of my masters in 
the art of war.* Renschild asked him who were 
the personswhomhe honoured with so high atitle? 
' You, gentlemen, the Swedish generals,' replied 
the czar. ' Your majesty, then,' resumed the 
count, ' is very ungrateful, to treat your masters 
with so much severity.' After dinner the czar 
caused their swords to be restored to all the 
general officers, and behaved to them like a prince, 
who had a mind to give his subjects a lesson of 
generosity and politeness, with which he was 
well acquainted. But this same prince, who 
treated the Swedish generals with so much hu- 
manity, caused all the Cossacks that fell into 
his hands to be broke upon the wheel. 

Thus the Swedish army, which left Saxony in 



CHARLES XII. I5q 

such a triumphant manner, was now no mort. 
One half of them had perished with hunger, and 
the other half were either massacred or mad-e 
slaves. Charles XU. had lost in one daj the 
fruit of nine years' labour, and of almost a hun- 
dred battles. He made his escape in a wretched 
calash, attended by major-general Hoord, who 
was dangerously wounded. The rest of his little 
troop followed, some on foot, some on horseback, 
and others in waggons, through a desert, where 
neither huts, tents, men, beasts, or roads were to 
be seen. Every thing was wanting, even to 
water itself. It was now the beginning of July ; 
the country lay in the forty-seventh degree of 
latitude ; the dry sand of the desert rendered 
the heat of the sun the more insupportable ; the 
horses fell by the way ; and the men were ready 
to die with thirst. A brook of muddy water which 
they found towards evening was all they met 
with ; they filled some bottles with this water, 
which saved the lives of the king's little troop. 
After a march of five days, he at last found him- 
self on the banks of the river Hjpanis, now called 
Bogh by the barbarians, who have spoiled not 
only the general face, but even the very names 
of those countries, which once flourished so nobly 
in the possession of the Greek colonies. This 
river joins the Boristhenes some miles lower, and 
falls along with it into the Black Sea. 

On the other side of the Bogh, towards the 
south, stands the little town of Oczakou, a fron- 
tier of the Turkish empire. The inhabitants, 
fleeing a body of soldiers approach, to whose dress 
and language they were entire strangers, refused 
to carry them over the river, without an order 
from Mehemet Basha, governor of Oczakou. 
The king sent an express to the governor, de- 
manding a passage ; but the Turk not know- 



t60 HISTORY OF 

ing what to do, in a country where one false step 
frequently costs a man bis life, durst not ven- 
ture to take any thing upon himself, without having 
first obtained permission of the seraskier of the 
province, who resides at Bender in Bessarabia. 
While they were waiting for this permission, the 
Russians who had made the king's army prisoners, 
had crossed the Boristhenes, and were approach- 
ing to take him also. At last the basha of Oc- 
zakou sent word to the king, that he would fur- 
nish him with one small boat, to transport him- 
self and two or three attendants. In this extre- 
mity the Swedes took by force what they could 
not obtain by" gentle means ; some of them went 
over to the further side in a small skiff, seized on 
some boats, and brought them to the hither bank 
of the river : and happy was it for them that they 
did so ; for the masters of the Turkish barks, 
fearing they should lose such a favourable oppor- 
tunity of getting a good freight, came in crowds 
to offer their service. At that very instant arrived 
the favourable answer of the seraskier of Bender; 
and the king had the mortification to see five 
hundred of his men seized by the enemy, whose 
insulting bravadoes he even beard. The basha 
of Oczakou, by means of an interpreter, asked 
his pardon for the delays which had occasioned 
the loss of these five hundred men, and humbly 
entreated him not to complain of it to the giand 
seignior. Charles promised him that he would 
not ; but at the same time gave him a severe re- 
primand, as if he had been speaking to one of 
his own subjects. 

The commander of Bender, who was likewise 
seraskier, a title which answers to that cf gene- 
ral, and basha of the province, which signifies 
governor and intendant, forthwith sent an aga 
to ccmpiiment the king, and to offer him a mag- 



CHARLES XIL 161 

niCcent tent, with provision, baggage, waggons, 
and all the conveniences, officers, and attendants, 
necessary to conduct him to Bender in a splendid 
manner : for it is the custom of the Turks, not 
only to defray the charges of ambassadors to 
the place of their residence, but likewise to sup- 
ply, with great liberality, the necessities of those 
princes who take refuge among them during the 
time of their stay. 



BOOK V. 

State of the Ottoman Porte. Charles resides near Ben- 
der ; his employments ; his intrigues at the Porte ; hia 
designs. Augustus restored to his throne. The Icing of 
Denmark makes a descent upon Sweden. All the other 
dominions of Charles are invaded. The czar enters 
Moscow in triumph. Affair of Pruth. History of the 
Czarina, who from a countr3' girl became empress. 

A CHMET III. was at that time emperor of the 
Turks. He had been placed upon the throne 
in 1703, by a revolution not unlike to that which 
transferred the crown of England from James H. 
to his son in-law William. Mustapha, being 
governed by his mufti, who was hated by all the 
Turks, provoked the whole empire to rise against 
him. His army, by the assistance of which he 
hoped to punish the malcontents, went over to 
the rebels. He was seized and deposed in form, 
and his brother taken from the seraglio and ad- 
vanced to the throne, almost without spilling a 
single drop of blood. Achmet shut up the de- 
posed sultan in the seraglio at Constantinople, 
where he lived for several years, to the great 
astonishment of Turkey, which had been wont to 
see the dethronement of her princes always fol- 
lo'A'ed by their death. 



162 HISTORY OF 

The new sultan, as the only recompence for a 
crown which he owed to the ministers, to the 
generals, to the officers of the janissaries, and in 
a word to those who had any hand in the revolu- 
tion, put them all to death, one after another, for 
fear they should one day attempt a second revo- 
lution. By sacrificing so many brave men, he 
weakened the strength of the nation, but estab- 
lished his throne at least for some years. The 
next object of his attention was to amass riches. 
He was the first of the Ottoman race that ven- 
tured to make a small alteration in the current 
coin, and to impose new taxes ; but he was obliged 
to drop both these enterprises, for fear of an in- 
surrection. The rapacity and tyranny of the 
grand seignior are seldom felt by any but the 
officers of the empire, who, whatever they may 
be in other respects, are domestic slaves to the 
sultan ; but the rest of the Mussulmans live in 
profound tranquillity, secure of their liberty, their 
lives, and fortunes.* 

Such was the Turkish emperor, to whom the 
king of Sweden fled for refuge. As soon as he 
set foot on the sultan's territories, he wrote him 
a letter which bears date the 1 jth of July, 1709. 
Several copies of this letter were spread abroad, 
all of which are now held spurious ; but of all 
those I have s^en, there is not one but what suf- 
ficently marks the natural haughtiness of the 
author, and is more suitable to his courage than 
his condition. The sultan did not return him an 

• We are surprised to hear our author still harping 
upon this string, namelj', the liberty and security which 
the Turks enjo3'; as it is well known that these misera- 
ble creatures are every day subject to be pillaged and 
massacred by the soldier^' ; to be oppressed, stripped, and 
often punished with death by the officers of justice, even 
without form of trial. 



CHARLES XII. 163 

answer till towards the end of September. The 
pride of the Ottoman Porte made Charles sensi- 
ble what a mighty difference there was between 
a Turkish emperor and a king of part of Scandi- 
navia, a conquered and fugitive Christian. For 
the rest, all these letters, which kings seldom 
write themselves, are but vain formalities, which 
neither serve to discover the characters of princes, 
nor the state of their affairs. 

Though Charles XII. was in reality no better 
than a prisoner honourably treated in Turkey, he 
yet formed the design of arming the Ottoman 
empire against his enemies. He flattered him- 
self that he should be able to reduce Poland 
under the yoke, and subdue Russia. He had an 
envoy at Constantinople ; but the person that 
served him most effectually in his vast projects, 
was the count de Poniatowsky, who went to 
Constantinople without a commission, and soon 
rendered himself necessary to the king, agreeable 
to the Porte, and at last dangerous even to the 
grand viziers.* 

One of those, who seconded his designs with 
the greatest activity, was the physician Fonseca, 
a Portuguese Jew* settled at Constantinople, a 
man of knowledge and address, well qualified for 
the management of business, and perhaps the 
only philosopher of his nation. His profession 
procured him a free access to the Ottoman Porte, 
and frequently gained him the confidence of the 
viziers. With this gentleman I was very well 
acquainted at Paris ; and all the particulars I am 
going to relate, were, he assured me, unquestion- 
able truths. Count Poniatowsky hath informed 

* It was from this nobleman I received not only the 
remarks which have been published, aad of which the 
chaplain Norberg hath made use, but likewise several 
Other manuscripts relating to this history. 



164 HISTORY OF 

me, both by letters and by word of mouth, that 
he bad the address to convey some letters to the 
sultaness Valide, the mother of the reigning 
emperor, who had formerly been ill-used by her 
eon, but now began to recover her influence ia 
the seraglio. A Jewess, who was often admitted 
to this princess, was perpetually recounting to 
her the exploits of the king of Sweden, and 
charmed her ear by these relations. The sulta- 
ness, moved by that secret inclination with which 
most women feel themselves inspired in favour 
of extraordinary men, even without having seen 
them, openly espoused the king's cause in the 
seraglio. She called him by no other name than 
that of her lion : ' And when will you,' would 
she sometimes say to the sultan her son, ' when 
will jouhelp my lion to devour this czarl' She 
even dispensed with the rules of the seraglio, so 
far as to write several letters with her own hand 
to count Poniatowsky, in whose custody they still 
are, at the time of my writing this history. 

Meanwhile the king was honourably conducted 
to Bender, through the desert that was formerly 
called the Wilderness of the Get?e. The Turks 
took care that nothing should* be wanting on the 
road, to render his journey agreeable. A great 
many Poles, Swedes, and Cossacks, who had 
escaped from the Muscovites, came by different 
ways to increase his train on the road. By the 
time he reached Bender he had eighteen hundred 
men, who were all maintained and lodged, both 
they and their horses, at the expense of the grand 
seignior. 

The king chose to encamp near Bender, rather 
than lodge in the town. The seraskier Jussuf 
basha caused a magnificent tent to be erected 
for him ; and tents were likewise provided for alf 
the lords of his retinae. Some time after, Charles 



CHARLES Xn. 165 

built a house in this place ; the oiEcers followed 
his example ; and the soldiers raised barracks ; 
so that his camp insensibly became a little town. 
As the king was not yet cured of his wound, he 
was obliged to have a carious bone extracted 
from his foot ; but, as soon as he could mount a 
horse, he resumed his wonted labours, always 
rising before the sun, tiring three horses a-day, 
and exercising his soldiers. By way of amuse- 
ment, he sometimes played at chess ; and, as 
the characters of men are often discovered by 
the most trifling incidents, it may not be impro- 
per to observe, that he always advanced the king 
first at that game, and made greater use of him 
than of any of the other men, by which he was 
always a loser. 

At Bender he had all the necessaries of life in 
great abundance, a felicity that seldom falls to 
the lot of a conquered and fugitive prince ; for, 
besides the more than sufficient quantity of pro- 
visions, and the five hundred crowns a-day, which 
he received from the Ottoman munificence, he 
drew some money from France, and borrowed 
of the merchants at Constantinople. Part of 
this money was employed in forwarding his in- 
trigues in the seraglio, in buying the favours of 
the viziers, or procuring their ruin. The rest he 
squandered away with great profusion among his 
own officers and the janissaries who composed 
his guards at Bender. The dispenser of these 
acts of liberality was Grothusen, his favourite ; 
a man who contrary to the custom of persons in 
that station, was as fond of giving as his master. 
He once brought him an account of sixty thousand 
crowns in two lines ; ten thousand crowns given 
to the Swedes and janissaries by the generoiis 
orders of his majesty, and the rest eat up by him- 
self : * It is thus,' says the king, 'that I would 



166 HISTORY OF 

have my friends to give in their accounts. Mul- 
lern makes me read whole pages for the sum of 
ten thousand livres.' 1 like the laconic style of 
Grothusen much better. One of his old officers, 
who was suspected of being somewhat covetous, 
complained that his majesty gave all to Grothu- 
sen : * I give money,' replies the king, ' to none 
but those who know how to use it.' This gene- 
rosity frequently reduced him to such a low ebb, 
that he had not wherewithal to give. A better 
economy in bis acts of generosity would have 
been as much for his honour, and more for his 
interest ; but it was the failing of this prince to 
carry all his virtues beyond their due bounds. 

Great numbers of strangers went from Con- 
stantinople to see him. The Turks and the 
neighbouring Tartars came thither in crowds : 
all respected and admired him. His inflexible 
resolution to abstain from wine, and his regu- 
larity in assisting twice a-day at public prayers, 
made them say that he was a true Mussulman, 
and inspired thena with an ardent desire of march- 
ing along with him to the conquest of Muscovy. 

During his abode at Bender, which was much 
longer than he expected, he insensibly acquired 
a taste for reading. Earon Fabricius, a gentle- 
man of the bed-chamber to the duke of Holstein, 
a young man of an amiable character, who pos- 
sessed that gaiety of temper, and easy turn of 
■wit, which is so agreeable to princes, was the 
person who engaged him in these literary amuse- 
ments. He had been sent to reside with him at 
Bender in the character of envoy, to take care of 
the interests of the young duke of Holstein ; and 
he succeeded i-n his negotiations by his open and 
agreeable behaviour. He had read all the best 
French authors. He persuaded the king to read 
the tragedies of Peter Corneille, those of Racine, 



CHARLES Xir. 167 

and Despreaux. The king had no relish for the 
satires of the last author, which indeed are far 
from being his best pieces ; but he was very fond 
of his other writings. When he read that pas- 
sage of the eighth satire, where the author treats 
Alexander as a fool and a madman, he tore out 
the leaf. 

Of all the French tragedies, Mithridates pleased 
him most, because the situation of that monarch, 
who, though vanquished, still breathed ven- 
geance, was so similar to his own. He shewed 
M. Fabricius the passages that struck him ; but 
would never read any of them aloud, nor ever 
hazard a single word in French. Nay, when he 
afterwards saw M. Desaleurs, the French am- 
bassador at the Porte, a man of distinguished 
merit, but acquainted only with his mother- 
tongue, he answered him in Latin ; and, when 
M. Desaleurs protested that he did not under- 
stand four words of that language, the king, rather 
than talk French, sent for an interpreter. 

Such were the occupations of Charles XIL at 
Bender, where he waited till a Turkish army 
should corae to his assistance. His envoy pre- 
sented memorials in his name to the grand vizier, 
and Poniatowsky supported them with all his 
interest. This gentleman's address succeeded in 
every thing ; he was always dressed in the Turk- 
ish fashion, and he had free access to every 
place. The grand seignior presented him with a 
purse of a thousand ducats, and the grand vizier 
said to him, 'I will take your king in one hand, 
and a sword in the other ; I will lead you to 
Moscow at the head of two hundred thousand 
men.' The name of this grand vizier was Chour- 
louli Ali Basha ; he was the son of a peasant of 
the village of Chourlou. Such an extraction is 
not reckoned a disgrace among the Turks, who 



168 HISTORY OF 

have no ranks of nobility, neither that which is 
annexed to certain employment, nor that which 
consists in titles. With them the dignity and 
importance of a man's character depends entirely 
upon his personal services. This is a custom 
which prevails in most of the eastern countries ; 
a custom extremely natural, and which might be 
productive of the most beneficial eftects, if posts 
of honour were conferred on none but men of 
merit ; but the viziers for the most part are no 
better than the creatures of a black eunuch, or a 
favourite female slave. 

The first minister soon changed his mind. 
The king could do nothing but negotiate, and the 
czar could give money, which he distributed with 
great profusion ; and he even employed the money 
of Charles XII. on this occason. Ike military- 
chest which he took at Pultowa, furnished him 
with new arras against the vanquished king; 
and it was no longer the question at court, whe- 
ther war should be made upon the Russians ? 
The interest of the czar was all powerful at the 
Porte, which granted such honours to his envoy 
as the Muscovite ministers had never before en- 
joyed at Constantinople. They allowed him to 
have a seraglio, that is a palace, in the quarter 
of the Franks, who converse with the foreign 
ministers. The czar thought he might even de- 
mand, that general Mazeppa should be put into 
his hands, as Charles XII. had caused the un- 
iappy Patkul to be delivered np to him. Chour- 
louli Ali Basba could refuse nothing to a prince 
who had backed his demands with miUions. Thus 
that same grand vizier, who had formerly pro- 
mised in the most solemn manner to lead the 
king of Sweden into Muscovy with two hundred 
thousand, men, had the assurance to make 
him a proposal of consenting to the sacrifice of 



CHARLES XII. 169 

general Mazeppa. Charles was enraged at this 
demand. It is hard to say how far the vizier 
might have pushed the affair, had not IVlazeppa, 
who was now seventy years of age, died exactly 
at this juncture. The king's grief and indigna- 
tion were greatly increased, when he understood 
that Tolstoy, nov/ become the czar's ambassador 
at the Porte, was served in public by the Swedes 
that had been made slaves at Pultowa, and that 
the brave soldiers were dailj sold in the market 
at Constantinople. Nay the Russian ambas- 
sador made no scruple of declaring openly, that 
the Mussulman troops were placed there rather 
with a view to secure the king's person, than to 
do him any honour. 

Charles, abandoned by the grand vizier, and 
vanquished by the czar's money in Turkey, as he 
had been by his arms in the Ukraine, saw him- 
self deceived and despised by the Porte, and al- 
most a prisoner among the Tartars, His atten- 
dants began to despair. Himself alone remained 
lirm, and never appeared in the least dejected. 
Convinced that the sultan was ignorant of the 
intrigues of Chourlouli Ali, his grand vizier, he 
resolved to acquaint him with them ; and Ponia- 
towsky undertook the execution of this hazardoioa 
enterprise. The grand seignior goes every Fri- 
day to the mosque, surrounded by his solaks, a 
kind of guards, whose turbans are adorned with 
ouch high feathers as to conceal the sultan from 
the view of the people. When any one has a 
petition to present to the grand seignior, he en- 
deavours to mingle with the guards, and holds 
the petition aloft. Sometimes the sultan con- 
descends to receive it himself; but for the most 
part he orders an aga to take charge of it, and 
upon his return from the mosque, causes the peti- 
tion to be laid before him. There is no fear of 
H 



fTO HISTORY OF 

any one's daring to importune him with useless 
memorials and trifling petitions, inasmuch as 
they write less at Constantinople in a year than 
they do at Paris in one day. There is still less 
of any memorials being presented against the 
ministers, to whom he commonly remits them un- 
read. Poniatowsky had no other way of con- 
veying the king of Sweden's complaint to the 
grand seignior. He drew up a heavy charge 
against the grand vizier. M. de Feriol, who was 
then the French ambassador, and who gave me 
an account of the whole afiFair, got the memorial 
translated into the Turkish tongue. A Greek 
was hired to present it: this Greek, mingling 
with the guards of the grand seignior, held the 
paper so high and for so long a time, and made 
such a noise, that the sultan observed him, and 
took the memorial himself. 

This method of presenting memorials to the 
sultan against his viziers was frequently em- 
ployed. A Swede, called Leloing, gave in an- 
other petition a few days after. Thus in the 
Turkish empire Charles XII. was reduced to the 
necessity of using the same expedients with an 
oppressed subject. 

Some days after this, the sultan sent the king 
of Sweden, as the only answer to his complaints, 
five and twenty Arabian horses, one of which, 
that had carried his highness, was covered with 
a saddle and housing enriched with precious 
stones, with stirrups of massy gold. This pre- 
sent was accompanied with an obliging letter, but 
conceived in general terms, and such as gave rea- 
son to suspect that the minister had done nothing 
without the sultan's consent. Chourlouli too» 
who was a perfect master of the art of dissimu- 
lation, sent the king five very curious horses. 
But Charles, with a lofty air, said to the person 



CHARLES Xn. 371 

that brought them — • Go back to your master, and 
tell him that I don't receive presents from ray 
enemies.' 

Poniatowsky having already ventured to pre- 
sent a petition against the grand vizier, he next 
formed the bold design of deposing him. Un- 
derstanding that the vizier was disagreeable to 
the sultaness mother, and that he was hated by 
Kislar Aga, the chief of the black eunuchs, and 
by the aga of the janissaries, he prompted them 
all three to speak against him. It was something 
very surprising to see a Christian, a Pole, an un- 
commissioned agent of the king of Sweden, who 
had taken refuge among the Turks, caballing al- 
most openly at the Porte against a viceroy of the 
Ottoman empire, who, at the same time, was 
both an able minister and a favourite of his mas- 
ter. Poniatowsky could never have succeeded, 
and the bare attempt would have cost him his 
life, had not a power superior to all those that 
operated in his favour given a finishing stroke to 
the fortune of the grand vizier Chourlouli. 

The sultan had a young favourite, who after- 
wards governed the Ottoman empire, and was 
killed in Hungary, in 1716, at the battle of Pe- 
terwaradin, which prince Engene of Savoy gained 
over the Turks. His name was Coumourgi Ali- 
Basha : his birth was much the same with that of 
Chourlouli ; being the son of a coal-heaver, as 
Coumourgi imports. Courmour in the Turkish 
tongue signifying coal. The empferor Achmet II. 
uncle of Achmet HI. having met Coumourgi, while 
yet an infant, in a little wood near Adrianople, 
was struck with his extraordinary beauty, and 
caused him to be conducted to the seraglio. Mus- 
tapha, the eldest son and successor of Mahomet, 
was very fond of him; and Achmet III. made 
bim his favourite. He had then no other place 



172 HISTORY OF 

but that of selictar-aga, or swor J- bearer to the 
crown. His extreme youth did not allow him to 
make any open pretensions to the post of grand 
vizier ; and yet he had the ambition to aspire to 
it. The Swedish faction could never draw over 
this favourite to their side. He had never been a 
friend to Charles, or to any other Christian prince, 
or to any of their ministers ; but on this occasion 
he served king Charles XII. without intending to 
do so. He joined with the sultaness Valide and 
the great officers of the Porte, to hasten the ruin 
of Chourlouli, who was equally hated by them all. 
This old minister, who had served his master for 
a long time, and with great fidelity, fell a victim 
to the caprice of a boy, and the intrigues of a 
foreigner. He was stripped of his dignity and 
riches. His wife, who was the daughter of the 
late sultan Mustapha, was taken from him ; and 
himself was banished to Caffa, formerly called 
Theodosia, in Crim Tartary. The bull, that is 
to say, the seal of the empire, was given to N umaa 
Couprougli, grandson to the great Couprougli, 
who took Candia. This new vizier was, what 
ill-informed Christians can hardly believe it possi- 
ble for a Turk to be, a man of incorruptible virtue, 
a scrupulous observer of the law, and one who 
frequently opposed the rigid rules of justice to the 
wayward will of the sultan. He could not endure 
to hear of a war against Muscovy, which he con- 
sidered as alika unjust and unnecessary ; but the 
same attachment to his law that prevented his 
making war upon the czar, contrary to the faith 
of treaties, made him observe the rights of hospi- 
tality towards the king of Sweden. ' The law 
forbids you,' would he say to his master, ' to at- 
tack the czar, who has done you no injury ; but 
it commands you to succour the king of Sweden, 
who is an unfortunate prince, in your dominions,' 



CHARLES XII. 173 

He sent his majesty eight hundred purses, every 
purse containing five hundred crowns, and advised 
him to return peaceably to his own dominions, 
either through the territories of the emperor of Ger- 
many, or in some of the French vessels which then 
lay in the harbour of Constantinople, and which 
M. de Feriol, the French ambassador at the Porte» 
offered to Charles to conduct him to Marseilles. 
Count Poniatowsky carried on his negotiations 
with greater activity than ever, and acquired 
such a superiority with an incorruptible vizier, 
as the gold of the Muscovites was unable to 
counterbalance. The Russian faction thought it 
would be their wisest course to poison such a 
dangerous negotiator. They gained one of his 
domestics, who was to give him the poison in a 
dish of coffee ; but the crime was discovered be- 
fore it was carried into execution. The poison 
was found in the hands of the domestic, con- 
tained in a small vial, which was carried to the 
grand, seignior. The prisoner was tried in a full 
divan, and condemned to the gallies ; the justice 
of the Turks never inflicting death for those 
crimes that have not been perpetrated. 

Charles, who could not be persuaded but that 
sooner or later he should be able to engage the 
Turkish empire in a war against Muscovy, re- 
jected every proposal that was made for his 
peaceable return home. He was continually re- 
presenting to the Turks the formidable power of 
that same czar, whom he had so long despised. 
His emissaries were perpetually insinuating that 
Peter Alexiowitz wanted to make himself master 
of the navigation of the Black Sea; and that 
after having subdued the Cossacks, he would 
carry his arms into Crim Tartary. Sometimes 
these representations aroused the Forte, at others 
the Russian ministers destroyed all their effect. 



174 HISTORY OF 

While Charles XII. made his fate depend 
upon the caprice of viziers, and while he was al- 
ternately receiving favours and affronts from a 
feorign power, presenting petitions to the sultan, 
and subsisting upon his bounty in a desert, all 
his enemies, awakened from their former lethargy, 
invaded his dominions. 

The battle of Pultowa was the first signal to a 
revolution in Poland. Augustus returned to that 
country, protesting against his abdication, and 
the peace of Altranstad, and publicly accusing 
Charles XII. whom he no longer feared, of rob- 
bery and cruelty. He imprisoned Fingsten and 
Imhoff, his plenipotentiaries, who had signed his 
abdication, as if in so doing they had exceeded 
their orders, and betrayed their master. His 
Saxon troops, which had been the pretext of his 
defhronemeut, conducted him back to Warsaw, 
accompanied by most of the Polish palatines, 
who having formerly sworn fidelity to him, had 
afterwards done the same to Stanislaus, and 
were now come to do it again to Augustus. Si- 
niawski himself rejoined his party, and laying 
aside the ambitious hopes of raising himself to 
the royal dignity, was content to remain grand- 
general of the crown. Flemming, his first minis- 
ter, who had been obliged to leave Saxony, for 
fear of being delivered up with Patkul, now con- 
tributed by his address to bring back to his mas- 
ter's interest a great part of the Polish nobility.- 

The Pope absolved the people from the oath 
of allegiance which they had taken to Stanislaus. 
This step of the holy father, seasonably taken 
and supported by the forces of Augustus, was of 
considerable weight. It strengthened the credit 
of the court of Rome in Poland, the natives of 
which had no inclination at that time to dispute 
with the sovereign pontiffs their chimerical right 



CHARLES xir. irs 

of interfering in the temporal concerns of princes. 
Every one was ready to submit anew to the au- 
thority of Augustus, and willingly received an 
absolution, which, however useless in itself, the 
nuncio took care to represent as absolutely ne- 
cessary. 

The power of Charles and the grandeur of 
Sweden were now drawing towards their last 
period. Above ten crowned heads had long be- 
held with fear and envy the Swedish power ex- 
tending itself far beyond its natural bounds, on 
the other side of the Baltic Sea, from the Duna 
to the Elbe. The fall of Charles, and his absence, 
revived the interested views, and re-kindled the 
jealousies of all these princes, which had for a 
long time been laid asleep by treaties, and by 
their inability to break them. 

The czar, who was more powerful than all of 
them put together, improving his late victory, 
took Vibourg and all Carelia, over-run Finland, 
laid siege to Riga, and sent a body of forces 
into Poland to aid Augustus in recovering his 
throne. The czar was, at that time, what Charles 
had been formerly, the arbiter of Poland and the 
North ; but all his measures were directed to the 
promotion of his own interest : whereas Charles 
nad never been prompted by any other motive 
tiian those of revenge and glory. The Swedish 
monarch had succoured his allies and crushed his 
enemies, without reaping any fruit from his vic- 
tories. The czar behaving more like a prince, 
and less like a hero, would not assist the king 
of Poland, but on condition that Livonia should 
be ceded to him ; and that that province, for 
which Augustus had kindled the war, should 
remain for ever in the possession of the Musco- 
vites. 

The king of Denmark, forgetting the treaty of 



176 HISTORY OF 

Travendal, as Augustus had that of AItranstaiJ» 
began to entertain thoughts of making himself 
master of the duchies of Holstein and Bremen, 
to which he renewed his pretensions. The king 
of Prussia had ancient claims upon Swedish 
Pomerania, which he now resolved to revive. 
The duke of Mecklenburg was vexed to see that 
the Swedes were still in possession of Wismar, 
the finest town in the duchy. This prince was 
to marry a nieee of the Russian emperor ; and the 
czar wanted only a pretext for establishing him- 
self in Germany, after the example of the Swedes. 
George, elector of Hanover, was likewise desir- 
ous of enriching himself with Charles's spoils. 
The bishop of Munster, too, would have been 
■willing enough to avail himself of some of his 
claims, had be been able to support them. 

About twelve or thirteen thousand Swedes de- 
fended Pomerania, and the other countries which 
Charles possessed in Germany ; and k was there 
that war was most likely to begin. This storm 
alarmed the emperor and his allies. It is a law 
of the empire, that whoever invades one of its 
provinces shall be reputed an enemy to the whole 
Germanic body. 

But there was a still greater difficulty. All 
these princes, except the czar, were then united 
against Lewis XIV. whose powerfor a longtime, 
bad been as formidable to the empire as that oi 
Charles. 

At the beginning of this century, Germany 
found itself hard pressed from south to north by 
the armies of France and Sweden. The French 
had passed the Danube, and the Swedes the 
Oder, and had their forces, victorious as they 
then were, been joined together, the empire had 
been utterly undone. But the same fatality that 
ruined Sweden had likewise humbled Franc&» 



CHARLES XII. 177 

Sweden, however, Lad still some resources left; 
and Lewis XIV. carried on the war with vigour, 
though without success. Should Pomerania and 
the duchy of Bremen become the theatre of the 
war, it was to be feared that the empire would 
suffer by such an event ; and tliat being weak- 
ened on that side, it would be less able to with- 
stand the arms of Lewis XIV. To prevent this 
danger, the emperor, the princes of the empire, 
Anne, queen of England, and the states-general 
of the United Provinces, concluded at the Hague, 
about the end of the year 1709, one of the most 
singular treaties that ever was signed. 

It was stipulated by these powers, that the 
war against the Swedes should not be in Pome- 
rania, nor in any of the German provinces ; and 
that the enemies of Charles XII. should be at 
liberty to attack him any where else. Even the 
czar and the king of Poland acceded to this 
treaty, in which he caused to be inserted an ar- 
ticle as extraordinary as the treaty itself, viz. 
that the twelve thousand Swedes who were in 
Pomerania should not be allowed to leave it in 
order to defend their other provinces. 

To secure the execution of the treaty, and to 
maintain this imaginary neutrality, it was pro- 
posed to assemble an army, which should encamp 
on the banks of the Oder. An unheard-of novelty 
sure, to levy an army in order to prevent a war! 
Nay, the very princes who were to pay the army, 
were most of them concerned to commence the 
war which they thus affected to prevent. The 
treaty imported, that the army should be com- 
posed of the troops of the emperor, of the king 
of Prussia, of the elector of Hanover, of the land- 
grave of Hesse, and of the bishop of Munster. 

The issue of this project was such as might 
naturally be expected : it was not carried into 
H2 



178 HISTORY OF 

execution* The princes, who were to have few* 

nished their contingents for completing the army^ 
contributed nothing. There were not two regi- 
ments formed. Every body talked of a neutrality, 
but nobody observed it ; and the princes of the 
North, who had any quarrel with the king of 
Sweden, were left at full liberty to dispute with 
each other the spoils of that prince. 

l>uring these transactions, the caar having 
quartered his troops in Lithuania, and given 
orders for pushing the siege of Riga, returned to- 
Moscow to shew his people a sight as new as any 
thing he had hitkerto done in the kingdom. This 
was a triumph of nearly the same nature with 
that of the ancient Romans. He made his entry 
into Moscow on the 1st of January, 1710, undes 
seven triumphant arches, erected in the streets^ 
and adorned with every thing which the climate 
could furnish, or which a flourishing commerce 
(rendered such by his care) could import. The 
procession began with a regiment of guards, fol- 
lowed by the pieces of artillery taken from the 
Swedes at Lesno and Pultowa» each of which was- 
drawn by eight horses, covered with scarlet hous- 
ings hanging down to the ground. Next came 
the standards, kettle drums, and colours won aft 
these two battles, carried by the officers and 
soldiers who had taken them» All these spoil* 
were followed by the finest troops of the czar. 
After they had filed off, there appeared in a 
chariot, made on purpose,* the litter of Charlea 
XII. found in the field of battle at Pukowa, all 
shattered with two cannon shot. Behind the lit- 

• Here Mr. Norberg, the confessor of Charles XII. 
finds fault with the author, and affirms that the litter waa 
carried by soldiers. "With regard to these circumstances 
(which are of great importance to be SMie) we appa«il HOf 
thoas who saw ttiem. 



CHARLES XI I. 179 

ter marched all the prisoners two and two, among 
whom was count Piper, first minister of Sweden, 
the famous mareschal Renschild, the count de 
Levenhaupt, the generals Slipenbak, Siackel- 
biirg, and Hamilton, and all the oflScers, who were 
afterwards dispersed through Great Russia. Im- 
mediate!)' after these appeared the czar himself, 
mounted on the same horse which he rode at the 
battle of Pultowa : a little after came the general* 
who had had a share in the success of the day. 
Next followed a regiment of guards ; and the 
whole was closed by the waggons loaded with 
the Swedish ammunition. 

This grand procession was accompanied with 
the ringing of all the bells in Moscow, with the 
sound of drums, kettle-drums, trumpets, and an 
infinite number of musical instruments, which 
played in concert, together with the vollies of two 
•hundred pieces of cannon, amidst the acclama- 
tions of five hundred thousand men, who, at every 
stop the czar made in this triumphal entry, cried 
out, ' Long live the emperor, our father.' 

This dazzling exhibition augmented the peo- 
ple's veneration for his person, and perhaps made 
him appear greater in their eyes than all the solid 
advantages they had derived from his labours. 
Meanwhile he continued the blockade of Riga; 
and the generals made themselves masters of the 
rest of Livonia, and part of Finland. At the same 
time the king of Denmark came with his whole 
fleet to make a descent upon Sweden, where he 
landed seventeen thousand men, and left them 
under the command of the count de Reventlau, 

Sweden was, at that time, governed by a re- 
gency composed of senators, who were appointed 
by the king before he left Stockholm. The body 
of the senate, imagining that the government of 
right belonged to them, became jealous of the re- 



180 HISTORY OF 

gency, and the state suffered by these divisioH». 
But when, after the battle of Pultowa, the first 
news was brought to Stockholm, that the king was 
at Bender, at the mercy of the Turks and Tar- 
tars, and that the Danes had invaded Schonen, 
and taken the town of Elsinburg, all their jea- 
lousies immediately vanished, and they bent their 
whole attention towards the preservation of the 
kingdom. Sweden was now drained, in a great 
measure, of regular troops : for though Charles 
had always made his great expeditions at the head 
of small armies, yet the innumerable battles he 
had fought in the space of nine years, the neces- 
sity he was under of recruiting his forces with 
continual supplies, and maintaining liis garrisons, 
and the standing army he was constantly obliged 
to keep in Finland, Ingria, Livonia, Pomerania, 
Bremen, and Verden : all these particulars had 
cost Sweden, during the course of the war, above 
two hundred and fifty thousand men ; so that there 
were not eight thousand of the ancient troops re- 
maining, which, together with the new-raised mi- 
litia, was the only resource Sweden had to trust 
to for the defence of her territories. 

The nation is naturally warlike ; and all sub- 
jects insensibly imbibe the spirit of their sovereign. 
From one end of the country to the other nothing 
was talked of but the prodigious achievements 
of Charles and his generals, and of the old regi- 
ments that fought under them at Narva, Duna, 
Clissau, Pultusk, and Holozin. Hence the very 
lowest of the Swedes were fired with a spirit of 
emulation and glory ; and this heroic impulse was 
greatly augmented by their affection for their king, 
their pity for his misfortunes, and their implaca- 
ble hatred to the Danes. In several other coun- 
tries the peasants are slaves, or treated as such ; 
but here they compose a part of the state, are 



CHARLES XIL 181 

considered as citizens, and of consequence, are 
capable of more exalted sentiments ; so that these 
new-raised militia became, in a short time, the 
best troops of the North. 

General Steinbock, by order of the regency, 
put himself at the head of eight thousand of the 
ancient troops, and above twelve thousand of 
these new militia, to go in pursuit of the Danes, 
■who ravaged all the country about Elsinburg, and 
had already extorted contributions from some of 
the more inland provinces. 

There was neither time nor opportunity to give 
regimental clothes to the new militia. Most of 
these boors came in their flaxen frocks, having 
pistols tied to their girdles with cords. Steinbock, 
at the head of this strange army, overtook the 
Danes about three leagues from Elsinburg on the 
10th of March, 1710. He had designed to give 
his troops a few days rest, to raise intrenchments» 
and to allow his new soldiers a sufficient time to 
habituate themselves to the face of the enemy j 
but all the peasants called out for the battle the 
very day on which they arrived. 

1 have been assured by some of the officers who 
were present, that thej saw almost every indivi- 
dual soldier foaming with rage and choler; so 
great is the national hatred of the Swedes to the 
Danes. Steinbock availed himself of this ardour 
of spirit, which, in the day of battle, is of as much 
consequence as military discipline. He attacked 
the Danes ; and there one might have seen a thing, 
to which, perhaps, the whole history of mankind 
cannot furnish above two similar examples ; the 
new raised militia, in their first assault, equalled 
the intrepidity of veteran soldiers. Two regiments 
of these undisciplined peasants cut in pieces the 
regiment of the king of Denmark's guards, of 
which there remained only ten men alive. 



182 HISTORY OF 

The Danes, being entirely routed, retired under 
the cannon of Elsinburg. I'he passage from 
Sweden to Zealand is so short, that the king of 
Denmark received the news of the defeat of his 
army in Sweden the same day on which it hap- 
pened ; and sent his fleet to bring oflF the shattered 
remains of his army. The Danes quitted Sweden 
with precipitation five days after the battle ; but, 
unable to carry off their horses, and unwilling to 
leave them to the enemy, they killed them all in 
the suburbs in Elsinburg, and set fire to their pro- 
visions, burning their corn and baggage, and leav- 
ing in Elsinburg four thousand wounded, the 
greatest part of whom died of the infection, oc- 
casioned by so many dead horses, and for want 
of provision, of which even their countrymen de- 
prived them, in order to prevent the Swedes from 
enjoying any share of it. 

Meanwhile, the peasants of Dalecarlia having 
Beard in the heart of their forests, that their king 
was a prisoner among the Turks, sent a deputa- 
tion to the regency of Stockholm, and offered to 
go, at their own expense, to the number of twenty 
thousand men, to rescue their master from the 
hands of his enemies. This proposal, which was 
better calculated to express their courage and 
loyalty, than to produce any real advantage, was 
received with pleasure, though it was not accept- 
ed; and the senators took care to acquaint the 
king with it, at the same time that they sent him 
a circumstantial account of the battle of Elsinburg. 

Charles received this agreeable news in his 
camp near Bender, in July, 1710. And another 
event that happened soon after contributed still 
more to strengthen his hopes. 

The grand vizier, Couprougli, who opposed all 
nis desigcs, was dismissed from his office, after 
juaving filled it for two months. The little court of 



CHARLES XII. 183 

Charles XII. and those who still adhered to him 
in Poland, gave out that Charles made and un- 
made the viziers, and governed the Turkish em- 
pire from his retreat at Bender. But he had no 
hand in the disgrace of that favourite. The ri- 
gid probity of the vizier was said to have been 
the sole cause of his fall. His predecessor had 
paid the janissaries not out of the imperial trea- 
sury, but with the money which he procured by 
extortion. Couprougli paid them out of the trea- 
sury. Achmet reproached him with preferring 
the interests of the subject to that of the emperor : 
* Your predecessors,' said he, ' well knew how to 
find other means of paying my troops.' — • If,' re- 
plied the grand vizier, • he had the art of enrich- 
ing your highness by rapine, it is an art of which 
I am proud to say 1 am entirely ignorant.* 

The profound secrecy that prevails in the se- 
raglio seldom allows such particulars to transpire 
to the public; but this fact was published along 
with Couprougli's disgrace. The vizier's bold- 
ness did not cost him his head, because true vir- 
tue is sometimes respected, even while it dis- 
pleases. He was permitted to retire to the island 
of Negropont. These particulars I learned from 
the letters of M. Bru, my relation, first druggist 
to the Ottoman Porte, and I have retold them in 
order to display the true spirit of that government. 

After this the grand seignior recalled from 
Aleppo, Baltagi Mahomet, basha of Syria, who 
had been grand vizier before Chourlouli. The bal- 
tagis of the seraglio, so called from balta, which 
signifies an axe, are slaves employed to cut wood 
for the use of the princes of the Ottoman blood, 
and the sultaness. This vizier had been a bal- 
tagi in bis youth, and had ever since retained the 
name of that office, according to the custom of 
the Turks, who are not ashamed to take the nama 



184 HISTORY OF 

of their first profession, or of that of their father, 
or even of the place of their linh. 

While Baltagi Mahomet was a valet in the se- 
raglio, he was so happy as to perform some little 
services to prince Achmet, who was then a pri- 
soner of state in the reign of his brother Musta- 
pha. The princes of the Ottoman blood are al- 
lowed to keep for their pleasure a few women, 
who are past the age of child-bearing (and that 
age arrives very early in Turkey), but still agree- 
able enough to please. As soon as Achmet be- 
came sultan, he gave one of these female slaves, 
for whom he had a great affection, in marriage 
to Baltagi Mahomet. This woman by her in- 
trigues made her husband grand vizier ; another 
intrigue displaced him ; and a third made him 
grand vizier again. 

When Baltagi Mahomet received the bull of the 
empire, he found the party of the king of Sweden 
prevailing in the seraglio. The sultaness Valide, 
Ali Coumourgi, the grand seignior's favourite, 
the kislar aga, chief of the black eunuchs, and the 
aga of the janissaries, were all for a war against 
the czar : the sultan was fixed in the same reso- 
lution ; and the first order he gave the grand vi- 
zier was to go and attack the Muscovites with 
two hundred thousand men. Baltagi had never 
made a campaign ; yet was he not an ideot, as 
the Swedes, who were dissatisfied with his con- 
duct, affected to represent him. Upon receiv- 
ing from the grand seignior a sabre, adorned 
with precious stones, he addressed him in the fol- 
lowing terms : ' Your highness knows,' said he, 
* that I was brought up to handle an axe and 
cleave wood, not to wield a sword and command 
your armies. Nevertheless, I will endeavour to 
serve you to the best of my power ; but, should 
I fail of success, remember 1 have entreated you 



CHARLES XII. 185 

beforehand not to impute the blame to me.* The 
sultan assured him he might depend upon his 
friendship ; and the vizier prepared to carry his 
orders into execution. 

The first step of the Ottoman Porte was to im- 
prison the Russian ambassador in the castle of 
the Seven Towers. 'Tis the custom of the Turks 
to begin by arresting the ministers of those princes 
against whom they declare war. Strict observers 
of hospitality in every thing else, in this they 
violate the most sacred law of nations. This in- 
justice, however, they commit under the pretext 
of equity, believing themselves, or, at least de- 
sirous to make others believe, that they never 
undertake any but just wars, because they are 
consecrated by the approbation of their mufti. 
Upon this principle they take up arms (as they 
imagine) to chastise the violators of treaties; 
and think they have a right to punish the am- 
bassadors of those kings with whom they are at 
enmity, as being accomplices in the treachery of 
their masters. 

Add to this the ridiculous contempt they affect 
to entertain for Christian princes and their am- 
bassadors, the latter of whom they commonly 
consider in no other light than as the consuls of 
merchants. 

The han of Crim Tartary, whom we call the 
kam, received orders to hold himself in readiness 
with forty thousand Tartars, 'ihis prince is so- 
vereign of Niigai, Budziack, part of Circassia, 
and all Crim Tartary, a province anciently known 
by the name of 'i'aurica Chersonesus, into which 
the Greeks carried their arms and commerce, 
and founded powerful cities ; and into which, in 
after times, the Genoese penetrated, when they 
were masters of the trade of Europe. In this 
country are to be seen the ruins of some Greek 



186 HISTORY OF 

cities, and some monuments of the Genoese, 
which still subsist in the midst of desolation and 
barbarity. 

The kam is called emperor by his own sub- 
jects ; but with this grand title he is, neverthe- 
less, the slave of the Porte. Tbe Ottoman 
blood, from which the kams are sprung, and the 
right they pretend to have to the empire of the 
Turks, upon the failure of the grand seignior's 
race, render their family respectable, and their 
persons formidable even to the sultan himself. 
'Tis for this reason that the grand seignior dares 
not venture to destroy the race of the kams of 
Tartary ; though indeed he seldom allows any of 
these princes to live to a great age. Their con- 
duct is closely inspected by the neighbouring 
bashas : their dominions are surrounded with 
janissaries ; their inclinations thwarted by the 
grand viziers; and their designs always sus- 
pected. If the Tartars complain of the kam, 
the Porte deposes him under that pretext. If 
he is too popular, it is still a higher crime, 
for which he suffers a more severe punishment. 
Thus almost all of them are driven from sove- 
reign power into exile, and end their days at 
Rhodes, which is commonly their prison and their 
grave. 

The Tartars, their subjects, are the most 
thievish people on earth ; and, what is hardly to 
be credited, are, at the same time, the most hos- 
pitable. They will go fifty leagues from home 
to attack a caravan, or pillage a town; and yet 
when any stranger happens to travel through 
their country, he is not only received, lodged, 
and maintained every where, but through what- 
ever place he passes, the inhabitants dispute with 
each other the honour of having him for their 
guest J and the master of the house, his wife^ 



CHARLES XII. 187 

and daughters, are ambitious to serve him. This 
inviolable regard to hospitality they have derived 
from their ancestors, the Scythians ; and they 
Btill preserve it, because the small number of 
strangers that travel among them, and the low 
price of all sorts of provisions, render the prac- 
tice of such a virtue no ways burthensome. 

When the Tartars go to war, in conjunction 
•with the Ottoman army, they are maintained by 
the grand seignior, but the booty they get is 
their only pay ; and hence it is that they are 
much fitter for plundering than fighting. 

The kam, won over to the king of Sweden's 
interest by presents and promises, at first ob- 
tained leave to appoint the general rendezvous of 
the troops at Bender, and even under the eye of 
Charles XII. in order the more eflfectually to 
convince that monarch, that the war was under- 
taken solely for his sake. 

The new vizier, Baltagi Mahomet, who did 
not lie under the same engagements, would not 
flatter a foreign prince so highly. He changed 
the order ; and Adrianople was the place fixed 
for the rendezvous of this great army. 'Tis al- 
ways in the vast and fertile plains of Adrianople 
that the Turks assemble their armies, when they 
are going to make war upon the Christians : 
there the troops that arrive from Asia and 
Africa repose and refresh themselves for a few 
weeks ; but the grand vizier, in order to antici- 
pate the preparations of the czar, allowed the 
army but three days' rest, and then marched to 
the Danube, from whence he advanced into 
Bessarabia. 

The Turkish troops now-a-days are not near 
80 formidable as they were in ancient times, 
when they conquered so many kingdoms in Asia, 
Africa, and Europe ; when, by their great strength 



188 HISTORY OF 

of body, their valour, and immbeis, they, tri- 
umphed over enemies less robust and worse dis- 
ciplined than themselves But now that the 
Christians are more expert in the art of war, 
they seldom fail to beat the Turks in a pitched 
battle, and even with unequal numbers. If the 
Ottoman empire hath made some conquests in 
latter times, it hath only been over the republic of 
Venice, esteemed more wise than warlike, de- 
fended by strangers, and little succoured by the 
Christian princes, who are perpetually at vari- 
ance among themselves. 

The janissaries and spahis always attack in a 
confused and disorderly manner : they are in- 
capable of obeying the commands of their ge- 
neral, or of recovering their ranks. Theircavalry, 
which, considering the goodness and fleetness of 
their horses, ought to be excellent, is unable to 
sustain the shock of the German cavalry. Their 
infantry cannot, even to this day, make use of 
fixed bayonets to any purpose. Add to this that 
the Turks have not had an able general since the 
time of Couprougli, who conquered the isle of 
Candia. A slave brought up in the indolence and 
silence of a seraglio, made a vizier by interest, 
and a general against his will, led a raw army, 
without discipline or experience, against Russian 
troops, hardened by twelve campaigns, and proud 
of having conquered the Swedes. 

The czar in all appearance, must have van- 
quished Baltagi Mahomet, but was guilty of the 
same fault, with regard to the Turks, which the 
king of Sweden had committed with regard to 
him : he despised his enemy too much. Upon 
the first news of the Turkish preparations, he 
left Moscow, and, having given orders for turning 
the siege of Riga into a blockade, assembled a 
bodv of eighty thousand men on the frontiera of 



CHARLES XII. 189 

Poland.* With this arnij he took the road 
through Moldavia and Walachia, formerly the 
country of the Dacee, but now inhabited by 
Greek Christians, who are tributaries to the grand 
seignior. 

Moldavia was, at that time, governed by prince 
Cantemir, a Grecian by birth, and who united in 
his person the talents of the ancient Greeks, the 
knowledge of letters and of arms. He was sup- 
posed to have sprung from the famous Timur, 
known by the name of Tamerlane, This ex- 
traction appeared more honourable than a Greek 
origin ; and the reality of the descent is proved 
by the name of the conqueror. Tiraur, it is said, 
resembles Temir : the title of Can, which Timur 
possesfsed before he conquered Asia, is included 
in the word Cantemir : therefore prince Cantemir 
is descended from Tamerlane. Such are the 
foundations of most genealogies ! 

From whatever family Cantemir was sprung, 

* The chaplain Norberg alleges, that the czar com- 
pelled everj' fourth man in his dominions, able to bear 
arms, to follow him to the field. Had that been the case, 
his army would have amounted, at least, to two millions 
of men.t 

+ Our author seems to have forgot himself on this 
occasion. In civilized and populous countries, one fifth 
of the inhabitants is computed as the proportion of men 
able to carry arms. M. de Voltaire says, the number of 
people in Muscovy does not exceed fourteen or fifteen 
millions. The fifth part of fifteen amounts to three ; 
every fourth man, therefore, if chose fit for war, would 
bring the number to seven hundred and fifty thousand. 
But great part of the czar's subjects consisted of people 
who never served in war ; such as the Laplanders, the 
Samoiedes, and the clergy ; so that we must understand 
Norberg as meaning no more than that Peter enlisted 
every fourth man of the peasants actually found in the , 
country, properly called Muscovy. 

( 



190 HISTORY OF 

he owed all his fortune to the Ottoman Porte. 
Hardly had he received the investiture of his 
principality, when he betrayed his benefactor the 
Turkish emperor to the czar, from whom he ex- 
pected greater advantages. He fondly imagined 
that the conqueror of Charles XII. would easily 
triumph over a vizier of so little reputation, who 
had never made a campaign, and who had chosen 
for his kiaia, or lieutenant, the superintendant 
of the customs in Turkey. He made no question 
but all his subjects would readily follow his 
standard, as the Greek patriarchs encouraged 
him in his revolt. The czar, therefore, having 
made a secret treaty with this prince, and re- 
ceived him into his army, advanced farther into 
the country ; and in June, 1711, arrived on the 
northern banks of the river Hierasus, now Pruth,. 
near Jassi, the capital of Moldavia. 

As soon as the grand vizier heard that Peter 
Alexiowitz was advancing on that side, he im- 
mediately decamped, and following the course of 
the Danube, resolved to cross the river on a 
bridge of boats, near a town called Saccia, at 
the same place where Darius formerly built the 
bridge that long went by his name. The Turkish 
army proceeded with so much expedition, that 
it soon came in sight of the Muscovites, the river 
Pruth being between them. 

The czar, sure of the prince of Moldavia, never 
dreamed that the Moldavians would fail him. 
But it frequently happens, that the interest of 
the prince and that of the subjt^cts are extremely 
different. The Moldavians liked the Turkish 
government, which is never fatal to any but the 
grandees, and affects a great lenity and mild- 
ness to its tributary states. They dreaded the 
Christians, and especially the Muscovites, who 
had always treated them with inhumanity. 



CHARLES XII. 191 

They carried all their provisions to the Ottoman 
army. 

The undertakers, who had engaged to furnish 
the Russians with provisions, performed that 
contract with the grand vizier which they had 
made with the czar. The Walachians, who 
border upon the Moldavians, discovered the same 
attachment to the Turks ; so much had the re- 
membrance of the Russian cruelty alienated all 
their affections. 

The czar, thus baulked of his hopes, which 
perhaps he had too rashly entertained, saw his 
army on a sudden destitute of forage and pro- 
visions. The soldiers deserted in troops ; and 
the army was soon reduced to less than thirty 
thousand men ready to perish with hunger. The 
czar experienced the same misfortunes upon the 
banks of the Pruth, in having delivered himself 
up to Cantemir, that Charles XII. had done at 
Pultowa, in relying upon Mazeppa. The Turks 
meanwhile passed the river, hemmed in the Rus- 
sians, and formed an intrenched camp before 
them. It is somewhat surprising that the czar 
did not dispute the passage of the river, or at 
least, repair this error by attacking the Turks 
immediately after the passage, instead of giving 
them time to destroy his army by hunger and 
fatigue. It would seem, indeed, that Peter did 
every thing in this campaign to hasten his own 
ruin. He found himself without provision ; the 
iiver Pruth being behind him ; a hundred and 
fifty thousand Turks before him ; while forty 
thousand Tartars were continually harassing his 
army on the right and left. In this extremity he 
made no scruple of acknowledging in public, that 
he was at least reduced to as bad a condition as 
bis brother Charles had been at Pultowa. 

Count Pouiatowsky, aa iiKlefatigable agent of 



192 HISTORY OF 

the king of Sweden, was in the grand vizier'a 
army, together with some Poles and Swedes, all 
of whom considered the ruin of the czar as in- 
evitable. 

As soon as Poniatowsky saw that the armies 
must infallibly come to aa engagement, he sent 
an express to the king of Sweden, who immedi- 
ately set out from Bender, accompanied with 
forty officers, anticipating the mighty pleasure 
he should have in fighting the emperor of Mus- 
covy. After many losses, and several marches, 
in which he suffered severely, the czar was 
driven back to the Pruth, without any other de- 
fence than a chevaux de frise, and a few wag- 
gons. A part of the janissaries and spahis at- 
tacked his army in this disadvantageous situ- 
ation ; but the attack was disorderly, and the 
Russians defended themselves with a firmness 
and resolution, which nothing but despair and 
the presence of their prince could inspire. 

The Turks were twice repulsed. Next day 
M. Poniatowsky advised the grand vizier to 
starve the Russian army, which, being in want 
of every thing, would, together with its emperor, 
be obliged in a day's time to surrender at dis- 
cretion. 

The czar, since that time, hath more than once 
acknowledged, that, in the whole course of his 
life, he never felt anything so exquisitely torment- 
ing as the perturbation of mind in which he pass- 
ed the night. He revolved in his thoughts all 
that he had been doing for so many years, to pro- 
mote the glory and happiness of his country. He 
reflected that so many grand undertakings, which 
had always been interrupted by wars, were now, 
perhaps, going to perish with him, before they 
were fully accomplished. And he plainly per- 
ceived that he xaust either be destroyed by famine. 



CHARLES XII. 193 

or attack about a hundred and eighty thousand 
men with feeble and dispirited troops, diminished 
one half in their number, the cavalry almost 
entirely dismounted, and the infantry exhausted 
with hunger and fatigue. 

He sent for general Sheremeto in the evening, 
and, without the least hesitation, or even so much 
as asking any one's advice, ordered him to have 
every thing in readiness next morning for at- 
tacking the Turks with fixed bayonets. 

He likewise gave express orders that all the 
baggage should be burnt, and that no officer 
should keep above one waggon : and so, in case 
of a defeat, the enemy might not obtain the booty 
they expected. 

Having settled every thing virith the general re- 
lating to the battle, he retired to his tent, oppress- 
ed with grief, and racked with convulsions, a 
disease which often attacked him, and always 
recurred with redoubled violence, when he was 
under any perturbation of mind. He gave pe- 
remptory orders that no one should presume, 
under any pretext whatsoever, to enter his tent 
in the night ; not choosing to receive any remon- 
strances against a resolution, which, however 
desperate, was absolutely necessary, and still less 
that any one should be a witness of the melan- 
choly condition in which he was. 

Meanwhile the greatest part of the baggage 
was burnt, according to his orders. All the army 
followed the example, though with much reluc- 
tance ; and several buried their most valuable 
effects in the earth. The general officers were 
already giving orders for the march, and endea- 
vouring to inspire the army with that courage 
which themselves did not possess. The soldiers, 
exhausted with hunger and fatigue, advanced 
without spirit and without hope. The women. 



194 HISTORY OF 

•with which the army was but too much crowded, 
set up the most lamentable shrieks and cries, 
•which contributed still more to enervate the 
men ; and next morning every one expected death 
or slavery, as the only alternative. This picture 
is by no means exaggerated : it is exactly agree- 
able to the accounts that were given by some 
oflScers who served in the army. 

There -was, at that time in the Russian camp, 
a woman as extraordinary, perhaps, as the czar 
himself. As yet she was known only by the name 
of Catharine. Her mother was a poor country- 
woman, called Erb-Magden, of the village of 
Ringen in Esthonia, a province where the people 
held by villenage, and which was then subject 
to the S'wedes. She never kuew her father; but 
was baptized by the name of Martha. The vicar 
of the parish, out of pure charity, brought her 
up to the age of fourteen ; after which she went 
to service at Marienburg, and hired herself to 
a Lutheran minister of that country, called 
Gluk. 

In 1702, being then eighteen years of age, she 
married a Swedish dragoon. The day imme- 
diately succeeding her marriage, a party of the 
Swedish troops having been defeated by the Mus- 
covites, the dragoon, who was in the action, dis- 
appeared, and was never heard of more ; but whe- 
ther or not he was taken prisoner, his wife 
could never learn, nor indeed from that time 
could she ever procure the least intelligence 
about him. 

A few days after, being made prisoner herself 
by general Baur, she entered into his service, 
and afterwards into that of marshal Sheremeto, 
by whom she was given to Menzikoff, a man 
who experienced the greatest vicissitudes of for- 
tune, having from a pastry-cook's boy been raised 



CHARLES XII. 195 

to the rank of a general and a prince, and at last 
stripped of every thing and banished into Siberia, 
where he ended his days in niisery and despair. 
The first time the emperor saw her was one 
evening as he was at supper with prince Menzi- 
koff, when he instantly fell in love with her. He 
married her privately in 1707 ; not seduced into 
this step by the artifices of the woman, but be- 
cause he found her possessed of a srength and 
firmness of mind capable of seconding his 
schemes, and even of continuing them after his 
death. He had long before divorced his first wife 
Ottokesa, the daughter of a boyard, who was ac- 
cused of opposing the alterations which he was 
introducing into his dominions. This crime in 
the eyes of the czar was the most heinous of all 
others. He would have nobody in his family 
whose thoughts did not exactly correspond with 
his. He imagined he could discern in this foreign 
slave the qualities of a sovereign, though she 
had none of the virtues of her sex. For her sake 
he disdained and broke through the prejudices 
that would have fettered a man of ordinary 
capacity. He caused her to be crowned empress. 
The same talents which made her the wife of 
Peter Alexiowitz, procured her the empire after 
the death of her husband ; and Europe hath be- 
held with surprise a woman who could neither 
read* nor write, compensating the want of edu- 

• The Sieur de la Motraye pretends that she had a 
good education, and could both read and write with great 
facility, The contrary of this, however, is known to 
all the world. The peasants of Livonia are never allowed 
to l«arn either to read or write, owing to an ancient pri- 
vilege, which is termed the benefit of clergy, formerly 
established among the baibarians who were converted 
to Christianitj', and still subsisting in this country. The 
memoirs, from which we have extracted this anecdote. 



196 HISTORY OF 

cation, and the weakness of her sex, by her in- 
vincible courage and resolution, and filling with 
glory the throne of a legislator. 

When she married the czar, she renounced the 
Lutheran religion, in which she had been born, 
and embraced that of Muscovy. She was re-bap- 
tized, according to the rules of the Russian church, 
and instead of Martha she took (he name of Ca- 
tharine, by which she was ever after known. This 
woman, being at the camp of Pruth, held a coun- 
cil with the general officers and the vice-chan- 
cellor, Schaffirof, while the czar was in his tent. 

The result of their deliberations was, that they 
must necessarily sue for a peace to the Turks, 
and endeavour to persuade the czar to agree to 
such a measure. The vice-chancellor wrote a 
letter to the grand vizier in his master's name. 
This letter the czarina carried to the emperor's 
tent, notwithstanding his prohibition, and having 
with tears and entreaties prevailed upon him to 
sign it, she forthwith collected all her jewels, 
money, and most valuable eflfects, together with 
what money she could borrow from the general 
officers, and having by these means made up a 
considerable present, she sent it, with the czar's 
letter, to Osman Aga, lieutenant to the grand vi- 
zier. Mahomet Baltagi replied with the lofty 
air of a vizier and a conqueror, ' Let the czar send, 
me his prime minister, and I shall then consider 
•what is to be done.' The vice-chancellor, Schaf- 
firof, immediately repaired to the Turkish camp, 
with some presents which he publicly offered to 
the grand vizier, sufficient to shew him that they 
stood in need of his clemency, but too inconsi- 
derable to corrupt his integrity. 

farther add, that the princess Elizabeth, afterwards em- 
press, always signed for her mother from the time she 
«ould write. 



CHARLES XII. 197 

The vizier at first demanded, that the czar, 
with his whole army, sJiould surreader at discre- 
lion. The vice-chancellor replied, that his mas- 
ter was going to attack him in a quarter of an 
hour, and that the Russians would perish to a 
man, rather than submit to such dishonourable 
conditions. Schaffirof's application was strongly 
eeconded by the remonstrances of Osman. 

Mahomet Baltagi was no warrior : he saw that 
the janissaries had been repulsed the day before} 
eo that Osman easily prevailed upon him not to 
risk such certain advantages upon the fate of a 
battle. He accordingly granted a suspension of 
arms for six hours, in which time the terms of 
the treaty might be fully settled. 

During the parley, there happened a trifling 
incident which plainly shews that the Turks often 
kept their word with a more scrupulous exactness 
than we imagine. Two Italian gentlemen, re- 
lations of M. Brillo, lieutenaut-colonel of a regi- 
ment of grenadiers in the czar's service, having 
gone to some distance in quest of forage, were 
taken prisoners by some Tartars, who brought 
them to the camp, and offered to sell them to an 
officer of the janissaries. J'he Turk, enraged at 
their presumption in having thus violated the 
truce, arrested the Tartars, and carried them him- 
self before the grand vizier, together v«ith the two 
prisoners. 

The vizier sent back the two gentlemen to the 
czar's camp, and ordered the Tartars, who had 
been chiefly concerned in carrying them off, to 
be beheaded. 

Meanwhile the cham of Tartary opposed the 
conclusion of the treaty, which would deprive hira 
of all hopes of plunder ; and Poniatowsky se- 
conded the cham with the strongest arguments. 
But Osman carried his point against the impor- 



198 HISTORY OF 

tunity of the Tartar and the insinuations of Po- 
niatowsky. 

The vizier thought, that by concluding an ad- 
vantageous peace, he should sufficiently consult 
the honour and interest of his master. He in- 
sisted that the Russians should restore Azoph, 
burn the gallies which lay in that harbour, de- 
molish the important citadels built upon the Palus 
Masotis, and deliver all the cannon and ammu- 
nition of these fortresses into the hands of the 
grand seignior j that the czar should withdraw 
his troops from Poland, give no farther disturb- 
ance to the few Cossacks that were under the 
protection of the Poles, nor to those who were 
subject to the Turks ; and that for the future he 
should pay the Tartars an annual subsidy of forty 
thousand sequins ; an odious tribute long since 
imposed, but from which the czar had delivered 
his country. 

At last the treaty was going to be signed, 
without so much as making mention of the king 
of Sweden. All that Poniatowsky could obtain 
of the vizier was to insert an article, by which the 
czar bound himself not to incommode the king 
in his return. And what is very remarkable, it 
was stipulated in this article, that the czar and 
Charles should make peace if they thought pro- 
per, and could agree upon the terms. 

On these conditions the czar was permitted to 
retire with his army, cannon, artillery, colours, 
and baggage. The Turks supplied him with pro- 
visions, and he had plenty of every thing in his 
camp two hours after the signing of the treaty, 
which was begun, concluded, and signed the 21st 
of July 1711. 

Just as the czar, now extricated from this ter- 
rible dilemma, was marching off with the drums 
beating and colours flying, the king of Sweden 



CHARLES XII. 19S 

arrived impatient for the fight, and happy in the 
thoughts of having his enemy in his power. He 
had rid post above fifty leagues from Bender to 
Jassi. He arrived at the very moment that the 
Russians were beginning to retire in peace : but 
he could not penetrate to the Turkish camp, with- 
out passing the Pruth by a bridge three leagues 
distant. Charles XII. who never did anything 
like other men, swam across the river, at the 
hazard of being drowned, and traversed the Rus- 
sian camp at the risk of being taken. At length 
he reached the Turkish army, and alighted at the 
tent of Poniatowsky, who informed' me of all 
these particulars, both by letter and word of 
mouth. The count came to him with a sorrowful 
countenance, and told him that he had lost an 
opportunity which perhaps he would never be 
able to recover. 

The king, inflamed with resentment, flew 
straight away to the tent of the grand vizier, and 
■with a steru air reproached him with the treaty 
he had made. • I have a right,' said the grand 
vizier, with a calm aspect, ' either to make peace 
or war.' — * But,' adds the king, ' have not you 
the whole Russian army in your power?' — 'Our 
law commands us,' replies the vizier with great 
gravity, ' to grant peace to our enemies when 
the J implore our mercy.' — 'And does it command 
you,' resumes the king in a passion, *to make a 
bad treaty when you may impose what laws you 
please 1 Had not you a fair opportunity, if you 
would have embraced it. of leading the czar a 
prisoner to Constantinople 1' 

The Turk, driven to this extremity, replied 
very coldly, 'And who would have governed his 
empire in his absence t It is not proper that all 
kings should leave their dominions.' Charles 
made no other answer than by a smile of indig- 



200 HISTORY OF 

nation. He then threw himself down upon a 
sopha, and eying the vizier with an air of con- 
tempt and resentment, stretched out his leg, and 
entangling his spur in the Turk's robe, purposely 
tore it : after which, he rose up, remounted his 
horse, and with a sorrowful heart returned to 
Bender. Poniatowsky continued some time 
longer with the grand vizier, to try if he could 
not prevail upon him by more gentle means, to 
extort greater concessions from the czar ; but the 
hour of prayer being come, the Turk, without 
answering a single word, went to wash and at- 
tend divine service. 



BOOK VI. 



Intrigues at the Porte. The cham of Tartary and the 
basha of Bender ecdeavour to force Charles to depart, 
lie defends himself with forty domestics against the 
whole army. He is taken, and treated as a prisoner- 

nPHE fortune of the king of Sweden, now so diffe- 
rent to what it had formerly been, harassed 
him even in the most trifling circumstances. On 
his return, he found his little camp at Bender, 
and all his apartments, overflowed by the waters 
of the Neister. He retired to the distance of a 
few miles, near the village of Vamitza ; and, as 
if he had a secret foreboding of what was to 
befal him, he there built a large house of stone, 
capable, on occasion, to sustain an assault for a 
few hours. He even furnished it in a magnificent 
manner, contrary to his usual custom, in order 
the more effectually to attract tbe respect of 
the Turks. 

He likewise built two other houses, one for 
his chancery, and the other for his favourite. 



CHARLES XII. 201 

Grothusen, who kept a table at the king's ex- 
pense. While Charles was thus employed in 
building near Bender, as if he had always to re- 
main in Turkey, Biiltagi Mahomet, dreading more 
than ever the intrigues and complaints of this 
prince at the Porte, had sent the resident of the 
emperor of Germany into Vienna to demand a 
free passage for the king of Sweden through the 
hereditary dominions of the house of Austria. 
The envoy, in the space of three weeks brought 
back a promise from the imperial regency, im- 
porting that they would pay Charles XII. all due 
honours, and conduct him safely into Pomerania. 

A pplication was made to the regency of Vienna, 
because Charles, the emperor of Germany, who 
had succeeded Joseph, was then in Spain, dis- 
puting the crown of that kingdom with Philip V. 
While the German envoy was executing this cora- 
mission at Vienna, the grand visier sent three 
bashas to acquaint the king of Sweden, that he 
must quit the Turkish dominions. 

The king, being previously apprised of thtj 
orders with whirh they were charged, caused in- 
timation to be given them, that if they presumed 
to make him any proposals contrary to his honour, 
or to the respect that was due to his character, 
he would forthwith have them all strung on a 
gallows. The basha of Thessalonica, who de- 
livered the message, disguised the harshness of 
his commission, under the most respectful terms. 
Charles put an end to the audience, without 
deigning to give them an answer. His chancel- 
lor, Mullern, who staid with the three bashas, 
briefly explained to them his master's refusal, 
which indeed they had sufficiently understood by 
his profound silence. 

The grand vizier was not to be diverted from 
his purpose ; he ordered Ismael Basha^ the new 
12 



202 HISTORY OF 

seraskier of Bender, to threaten the king with 
the sultan's indignation, if he did not immedi- 
ately come to a resolution. 'I'his seraskier was 
a man of a mild temper and engaging ad- 
dress, which had gained him the good will of 
Charles, and the friendship of all the Swedes. 
The king entered into a conference with him ; but 
it was only to tell him, that he would not depart 
till Achmet had granted him two favours ; the 
punishment of his grand vizier, and a hundred 
thousand men to conduct him back to Poland. 

Baltagi Mahomet was sensible that Charles 
remained in Turkey only to ruin him. He there- 
fore took care to place guards in all the roads 
from Bender to Constantinople, to intercept the 
king's letters. He did more; he retrenched his 
* thaim ;' that is to say, the provision which the 
Porte allows those princes to whom she grants aa 
asylum. That of the king of Sweden was im- 
mense consisting of five hundred crowns a day, 
in money, and a profusion of every thing ne- 
cessary to maintain a court in splendour and 
aflfiuence. 

As soon as the king was informed that the 
vizier had presumed to retrench his allowance, 
he turned to the steward of his household, and 
said, * Hitherto you have only had two tables ; I 
command you to have four for the future.' 

The officers of Charles XII. had been used to 
find nothing impossible which their master order- 
ed ; at present, however, they had neither money 
nor provisions. They were forced to borrow at 
twenty, thirty, and forty per cent, of the officers, 
domestics, and janissaries, who were grown rich 
by the king's profusion. M. Fabricius, the envoy 
of Holstein, Jeflfreys. the English minister, and 
their secretaries and friends, gave all that they 
had. The king, with his usual stateliness, and 



CHARLES XII. 203 

without any concern about the morrow, lived on 
these presents, which could not have sufficed him 
long. It was necessary to elude the vigilance of 
the guards, and to send privately to Constanti- 
nople to borrow money of the European mer- 
chants. But every body refused to lend a king 
who seemed to have puthimself out of a condition 
of ever being able to repay them. One English 
merchant alone, called Cook, ventured to lend 
him about forty thousand crowns, content to lose 
that sum if the king of Sweden should happen to 
die. This money was brought to the king's little 
camp, just as they began to be in want of every 
thing, and even to give over all hopes of any far- 
ther relief. 

During this interval, M. Poniatowsky wrote, 
even from the camp of the grand vizier, an ac- 
count of the campaign at Pruth, in which he ac- 
cused Baltagi Mahomet of perfidy and cowardice. 
An old janissary, provoked at the vizier's weak- 
ness, and gained moreover by Poniatowsky's li- 
berality, undertook the delivery of the letter; 
and, having obtained leave, presented it with his 
own hand to the sultan. 

A ffew days after, Poniatowsky left the camp, 
and repaired to the Porte to form cabals, as 
usual, against the grand vizier. 

Every thing favoured his project. The czar, 
being now at liberty, was in no haste to perform 
his engagements. The keys of Azoph were not 
yet come ; the grand vizier was answerable fot 
them ; and, justly dreading the indignation of 
his master, durst not venture to appear in his 
presence. 

At that time the seraglio was filled more than 
ever with intrigues and factions. These cabals, 
which prevail in all courts, and which in ours 
commonly end in the dismission, or, at most, in 



204 HISTORY OF 

the banishment of the minister, never fail at Con= 
stantinople to occasion the loss of more than one 
head. The present plot proved fatal to the old 
vizier, Chourlouli, and to Osraan, the lieutenant 
of Baltagi Mahomet, who had been the principal 
author of the peace of Pruth, and had afterwards 
obtained a considerable post at the Porte. 
Among Osman's treasures was found the czarina's 
ring, and twenty thousand pieces of gold, of 
Saxon and Russian coin ; a plain proof that 
money alone had extricated the czar from his 
dangerous situation, and ruined the fortunes of 
Charles. The vizier, Baltagi Mahomet, was ba- 
nished to the Isle of Lemnos, where he died 
three years after. The sultan did not seize his 
effects, either at his banishment or his death. 
He was very far from being rich ; and his po- 
verty was a sufficient vindication of his cha- 
racter. 

This grand vizier was succeeded by Jussuf, or 
Joseph, whose fortune was as singular as that of 
his predecessors. Born on the frontiers of Mus- 
covy, and taken prisoner at six years of age, 
with his family, he had been sold to a janissary. 
He was long a servant in the seraglio, and at 
last became the second person in the empire 
where he had been a slave ; but he was only the 
shadow of a minister. The young selictar, Ali 
Coumourgi, raised him to that slippery post, in 
hopes of one day filling it himself; and Jussuf, 
his creature, had nothing to do but to set the 
seals of the empire to whatever the favourite 
desired. From the very beginning of this vizier's 
ministry, the politics of the Ottoman court 
seemed to undergo a total alteration, 'i'he czar's 
plenipotentiaries, who resided at Constantinople, 
either as ministers or hostages, were'treated with 
greater civility than ever. The grand vizier 



CHARLES XII. 205 

confirmed with them the peace of Pruth ; but 
what mortified the king of Sweden more than al. 
the rest was, to hear that the secret alliance made 
with the czar at Constantinople, was brought 
about by the mediation of the English and Dutch 
ambassadors. 

Constantinople, from the time of Charles's re- 
treat to Bender, was become what Home hath 
often been, the centre of the negotiations ot 
Christendom. Count Desaleurs, the French am- 
bassador at the Porte, supported the interests of 
Charles and Stanislaus; the emperor of Germany's 
minister opposed them ; and the factions of 
Sweden and Muscovy clashed, as those of France 
and Spain have long done at the court of Rome. 

England and Holland seemed to be neuter, 
but were not so in reality. The new trade, 
which the czar had opened at Petersburg, at- 
tracted the attention of these two commercia, 
nations. 

The English and Dutch will always side with 
that prince who favours their trade the most ;* 
there were many advantages to be derived from 
a connexion with the czar ; and therefore it is 
no wonder that the ministers of England and Hol- 
land should serve him privately at the Porte. 
One of the conditions of this new alliance was, 
that Charles should be immediately obliged to 
quit the Turkish dominions ; whether it was that 
the czar hoped to seize him on the road, or that 
he thought him less formidable in his own king- 
dom than in Turkey, where he was always on the 
point of arming the Ottoman troops against the 
Russian empire. 

• We could wish this observation was true ; but of the 
contrary we are feelingly convinced. The English have 
no commerce with Muscovy, but such as is prejudicial 
to the true interest of their countiy. 



206 HISTORY OF 

Charles was perpetually soliciting the Porto 
to send him back through Poland with a nu- 
merous army. The divan was resolved to send 
him back with a simple guard of seven or eight 
thousand men, not as a king whom they meant 
to assist, hnt as a guest of whom they wanted to 
get rid. For this purpose the sultan Achmet 
wrote him the following letter : 

* Most powerful among the kings that adore 
Jesus, redresser of wrongs and injuries in the 
ports and republics of the south and north, shining 
in majesty, lover of honour and glory, and of our 
sublime Porte, Charles, king of Sweden, whose 
enterprises may God crown with success. 

* As soon as the most illustrious Achmet, 
formerly Chiaoux Pachi, shall have the honour 
to deliver you this letter, adorned with our impe- 
rial seal, be persuaded and convinced of tlie truth 
of our intentions therein contained, viz. that 
though we had proposed once more to march our 
ever- victorious army against the czar ; yet that 
prince, in order to avoid the just resentment 
which we had conceived at his delaying to exe- 
cute the treaty concluded on the banks of the 
Pruth, and afterwards renewed at our sublime 
Porte, having surrendered into our hands the 
castle and city of Azoph, and endeavoured by 
the mediation of the English and Dutch am- 
bassadors, our ancient allies, to cultivate a lasting 
peace with us, we have granted his request, and 
delivered to his plenipotentiaries, who remain 
with us as hostages, our imperial ratification, 
after having received his from their hands. 

' We have given to the most honourable and 
valiant Delvit Gheri, cham of Budziac, Crim 
Tartary, Nagay, and Circassia ; and to our most 
sage counsellor and noble seraskier of Bender, 



CHARLES XII. 207 

Innael (whom God preserve and increase their 
magnificence and wisdom), our inviolable and 
salutary orders for your return through Po- 
land, according to your first intention, which hath 
again been presented to us in your name. You 
must, therefore, prepare to set out next wintet 
under the protection of Providence, and with an 
honourable guard, in order to return to your own 
territories, taking care to pass through those of 
Poland in a friendly manner. 

' Whatever is necessary for your journey shall 
be furnished you by my sublime Porte, as well in 
money as in men, horses, and waggons. Above 
all things, we advise and exhort you, to give tho 
most distinct and express orders to all the Swedes, 
and other persons in your retinue, to commit no 
outrage, nor be guilty of any action that may tend 
either directly or indirectly to break this peace 
and alliance. 

' By these means you will preserve our good- 
will, of which we shall endeavour to give you as 
great and as frequent proofs as we shall have 
opportunities. The troops designed to attend 
you shall receive orders agreeable to our imperial 
iatentions.' 

Given at our sublime Porte of Constantinople, 
the fourteenth of the moon Rebyul Eurech, 
1214, which answers to the nineteenth (rf 
April, 1712. 

This letter did not deprive the king of Sweden 
of all hopes. He wrote to the sultan, that he 
should ever retain a gratefiU remembrance of the 
favours his highness had bestowed upon him ; 
but that he believed the sultan was too just to 
send him back with the simple guard of a flying 
camp into a country that still swarmed with the 
czar's troops. And indeed the emperorof Russia, 
notwithstanding the first article of the treaty ojf 



200 HISTORY OF 

Pruth, by which he was obliged to withdraw all 
his troops from Poland, had sent fresh ones into 
that kingdom ; and it is somewhat surprising, 
that the grand seignior should be ignorant of this 
particular.' 

The bad policy of the Porte, in being so much 
guided by the motives of vanity as to allow Cbris- 
tian princes to have ambassadors at Constanti- 
nople, without ever sending a single agent to any 
Christian court, gives the latter an opportunity 
of discovering, and sometimes of directing the 
most secret resolutions of the sultan, and keeps 
the divan in a profound ignorance of what passes 
in the Christian world. 

The sultan, shut up in his seraglio among his 
women and eunuchs, can only see with the eyes 
of his grand vizier. That minister, as inacces- 
sible as his master, his time wholly engrossed 
with the intrigues of his seraglio, and having no 
foreign correspondence, is commonly deceived 
himself, or else deceives the sultan, who deposes 
or causes him to be strangled for the first offence, 
in order to choose another minister as ignorant or 
as perfidious, who behaves like his predecessors, 
and soon shares the same fate. 

So great, for the most part, is the inactivity 
and supine negligence of this court, that were the 
Christian princes to combine against it, their 
fleets might be at the Dardanelles, and their 
land forces at the gates of Adrianople, before the 
Turks would think of taking any measures for 
their defence ; but their jarring interests, that 
must ever divide the Christian world, will pre- 
serve the Turks from a fate, to which they seem 
at present exposed by their want of policy, and 
by their ignorance of the art of war, both by sea 
and land. 

So little was Achmet acquainted with what 



CHARLES XII. 209 

passed in Poland, that he sent an aga to inquire, 
whether in reality the czar's troops were still in 
that country. The aga was accompanied by two 
secretaries of the king of Sweden, who under- 
stood the Turkish language, and were to serve 
as evidences against him, in case he should give 
in a false repoit. 

The aga saw the Russian forces with his own 
eyes, and informed the sultan of every particular. 
Achmet, fired with indignation, was going to 
strangle the grand vizier ; but the favourite, who 
protected him, and who thought he should have 
farther occasion for him, obtained his pardon, 
and supported him some time longer in the mi- 
nistry. 

The cause of the Russians was openly espoused 
by the vizier, and secretly favoured by Ali Cou- 
mourgi, who had changed sides. But the sultan 
was so provoked, the infraction of the treaty was 
so manifest, and the janissaries, who often make 
the ministers, the favourites, and even the sultana 
tremble, called out for war with so much impor- 
tunity, that no one in the seraglio durst offer a 
more moderate proposal. 

The grand seignior immediately committed to 
the Seven Towers the Russian ambassadors, who 
were already as much accustomed to go to prison 
as to an audience. War was declared afresh 
against the czar, the horses tails were displayed, 
and orders were given to all the bash as to as- 
semble an army of two hundred thousand men. 
The sultan himself quitted Constantinople, and 
fixed his court at Adrianople, that he might be 
60 much the nearer to the seat of the war. 

Meanwhile a solemn embassy, sentto the grand 
seignior by Augustus and the republic of Po- 
land, was upon the road to Adrianople. The 
palatine of Massovia was at the head of this em.- 



210 HISTORY OF 

bassy, "mth a retinue of above three hundred 
persons. 

All the members of the embassy were seized 
and imprisoned in one of the suburbs of the city. 
Never was the king of Sweden's party more 
highly flattered than on this occasion ; and yet 
these great preparations were rendered abortive, 
and all their hopes were again disappointed. 

If we may believe a public minister, a man of 
sagacity and penetration, who then resided at 
Constantinople, young Coumourg.' had already 
formed other designs than that of disputing a de- 
sert country with the czar, by a war, the event 
of which must have been so uncertain. He had 
resolved to strip the Venetians of Peloponnesus, 
now called the Morea, and to make himself 
aiaster of Hungary. 

These grand projects he proposed to carry 
into execution, as soon as he should have at- 
tained the post of prime vizier, from which he 
was still excluded on account of his youth. In 
this view it was more for his advantage to be the 
ally than the enemy of the czar. It was neither 
his interest nor his inclination to keep the king 
of Sweden any longer ; and so much less to arm 
the Turkish empire in his favour. He not only 
resolved to dismiss that prince, but he openly 
declared that, for the future, no Christian minis- 
ter should be allowed to reside at Constantinople; 
that all the common ambassadors were, at best, 
but honourable spies, who corrupted or betrayed 
the viziers, and had too long influenced the in- 
trigues of the seraglio ; and that the Franks set- 
tled at Pera and in the sea-ports of the Levant, 
were merchants who needed a consul only, and 
not an ambassador. The grand vizier, who owed 
his post and even his life to the favourite, and 
who besides stood greatly in awe of him, com- 



CHARLES XII. 211 

pKed with his intentions with so much the more 
alacrity, as he had sold himself to the Russians, 
and hoped by this means to be revenged on the 
king of Sweden, who had endeavoured to ruin 
him. The mufti, a creature of Ali Coumourgi, 
was likewise an absolute slave to his will. He 
had been a keen advocate for a war with Russia, 
when the favourite was of that opinion ; but the 
moment Coumourgi changed his mind, he pro- 
nounced it to be unjust. Thus the army was 
hardly assembled when they began to listen 
to the proposals of peace. The vice-chancellor, 
Schaffirof, and young Sheremeto, the czar's hos- 
tages and' plenipotentiaries at the Porte, pro- 
mised, after several negotiations, that their mas- 
ter should withdraw his troops from Poland. 
The grand vizier, who well knew that the czar 
would never execute this treaty, made no scruple 
to sign it ; and the sultan, satisfied with having, 
though only in appearance, imposed laws upon 
the Russians, continued still at Adrianople. 
Thus, in less than six months, peace was ratified 
with the czar, war declared, and peace i^newed 
again. 

The chief article of all these treaties was to 
oblige the king of Sweden to depart. The sultan 
was unwilling to endanger his own honour, and 
that of the Ottoman empire, by exposing the king 
to the risk of his being taken by his enemies on 
the road. It was stipulated that he should de 
part ; but only on condition that the ambassadors 
of Poland and Muscovy should be responsible 
for the safely of his person. Accordingly these 
ambassadors swore in the name of their masters, 
that neither the czar nor the king of Poland 
should molest him in his journey ; and Charles 
was to engage, on his side, that he would not at- 
tempt to excite any commotions in Poland. The 

/ 



2n HISTORY OF 

divan having thus settled the fate of Charles, 
Ismael, seraskier of Bender, repaired to Var- 
nitza, where the king was encamped, and ac- 
quainted him with the resolutions of the Porte^ 
insinuating to him with great politeness, that 
there was no time for any longer delay, but that 
be must necessarily depart. 

Charles made no other answer than this, that 
the grand seignior had promised him an army, 
and not a guard ; and that kings ought to keep 
their word. 

Meanwhile general Flemming,the minister and 
favourite of Augustus, maintained a secret cor- 
respondence with the cham of Tartary, and the 
seraskier of Bender. La Mare, a French gen- 
tleman, a colonel in the service of Saxony, had 
made several journeys from Bender to Dresden , 
and all these journeys were strongly suspected. 

At this very time, the king of Sweden caused 
a courier, whom Flemming had sent to the Tar- 
tarian prince, to be arrested on the frontiers of 
Walachia. The letters were brought to him, 
find deciphered ; and from them it clearly ap- 
peared that a correspondence was carried on 
between the Tartars and the court of Dresden ; 
but the letters were conceived in such ambiguous 
and general terms, that it was difficult to discover, 
whether the intention of Augustus was only to 
detach the Turks from the interest of Sweden, or 
if he meant that the cham should deliver Charles 
to the Sa:ions, as he conducted him back to Po- 
land. 

We can hardly imagine that a prince so ge- 
nerous as Augustus, would, by seizing the person 
of the king of Sweden, endanger the lives of his 
ambassadors, and of three hundred Polish gen- 
tlemen, who were detained at Adrianople aa 
pledges for Charles's safety. 



CHARLES xir. ais 

But it is ■well known, on the other hand, that 
Flemming. the minister of Augustus, and whohad 
an absolute power over his master, was a man 
devoid of every principle of virtue or honour. The 
injuries which the elector had received from the 
king of Sweden might seem to excuse any kind ot 
revenge ; and it might be thought, that, if the 
court of Dresden could buy Charles from the 
cham of Tartary, they would find it no difficult 
matter to purchase the liberty of the Polish hos- 
tages at the Ottoman Porte. 

These reasons were carefully canvassed by the 
king, Mullern his privy chancellor, and Grothusen 
his favourite. They read the letters again and 
again ; and their unhappy condition making 
them more suspicious, they resolved to believe 
the worst, 

A few days after the king was confirmed in 
his suspicions by the sudden departure of count 
Sapieha, who had taken refuge with him, and 
now left him abruptly, in order to go to Poland 
to throw himself into the arms of Augustus, 
Upon any other occasion he would have consi- 
dered Sapieha only as a malcontent ; but in his 
present delicate situation he at once concluded 
him to be a traitor. The repeated importunities 
with which he was pressed to depart converted 
his suspicious into certainty. The inflexible ob- 
stinacy of his temper .co-operating with these 
circumstances confirmed him in the opinion, that 
they intended to betray him and deliver him up to 
his enemies, though this plot hath never been 
fully proved. 

Perhaps he was mistaken in supposing that 
Augustus had made a bargain with the Tartars 
for his person ; but he was much more deceived 
in relying on the assistance of the Ottoman court. 
Be that it as it will, he resolved to gain time. 



214 HISTORY OF 

He told tbe basha of Bender, that li€ coatii 
not depart, till he had received money to dis- 
charge his debts ; for though his thaim had for % 
long time been duly paid, his unbounded liberality 
had always obliged him to borrow. The basha 
asked him how much he wanted 1 The king re- 
plied, at a venture, a thousand purses, amounting 
to fifteen hundred thousand livres, full weight. 
The basha acquainted the Porte with his request. 
The sultan instead of a thousand purses which 
Charles had required, granted him twelve hun- 
dred, and wrote the basha the following letter : 

The Grand Seignior's letter to the 
basha of Bender. 

• The design of this imperial letter is to ac- 
quaint you, that upon your representation and 
request, and upon that of the most noble Delvet 
Gherai, cham to our sublime Porte, our imperial 
munificence hath granted a thousand purses to 
the king of Sweden^ which shall be sent to Ben- 
der under the care and conduct of that most 
illustrious Mehemet Basha, formerly Chiaoux 
Pachi, to remain in your custody till the de- 
parture of the king of Sweden, whose steps may 
God direct, and then to be given him, together 
with two hundred purses more, as an overplus of 
our imperial liberality, above what he demands. 

* With regard to the route of Poland, which h« 
is resolved to take, yoa and the cham, who are 
to attend him, shall be careful to pursue such 
wise and prudent measures, as may during the 
whole journey prevent the troops under your com- 
mand, as well as those of the king of Sweden, 
from committing any outrage, or being guilty of 
any action that may be deemed a violation of 
the peace which still subsists between our sub- 
lime Porte and the kingdom and republic of Fo 



CHARLES XIC. 215 

laad ; so the king may pass in a friendly man- 
ner under our protection. 

* By doing this (which you must expressly re- 
quire hira to do), he will receive from the Holes 
all the honour and respect that is due to his ma- 
jesty ; as we have been assured by the ambassa- 
dors of Augustus and the republic, who, on this 
condition, have even offered themselves, together 
with several others of the Polish nobility, if re- 
quired, as hostages for the security of his passage, 

' When the time which you and the most noble 
Delvet Gherai shall fix for the march, is come, 
you shall put yourself at the head of your brave 
soldiers, among whom shall be the Tartars, headed 
by the cham, and you shall conduct the king of 
Sweden and his men, 

* And may it please the only God, the Al- 
mighty, to direct your steps and theirs. The 
basha of Aulos shall continue at Bender with a 
regiment of spahis and another of janissaries, to 
defend it in your absence. And in following our 
imperial orders and intentions, in all these points 
and articles, you will deserve the continuance of 
our imperial favour, as well as the praise and re- 
compense due to all those who deserve them. 

* Done at our imperial residence of Constanti- 

nople, the 2d of the moon Cheval, 1211 of 
the Hegira.' 

While they were waiting for this answer from 
the grand seignior, Charles wrote to the Porte, 
complaining of the treachery of which he suspect- 
ed the cham of Tartary to be guilty ; but all the 
passages were well guarded, and besides, the 
minister was against him, so that his letters never 
reached the sultan. Nay, the vizier would not 
allow M. Desaleurs to come to Adrianople, where 
the Porte then was, lest that minister, who was 



216 HISTORY OF 

an agent of the king of Sweden, should endeavour 
to disconcert the plan he had formed for obliging 
him to depart. 

Charles, enraged to see himself thus hunted, 
as it were, from the grand seignior's dominions, 
resolved not to quit them at all. 

He might have desired to return through Ger 
many, or to take shipping on the Black Sea, in 
order to sail to Marseilles by the Mediterranean, 
but he rather chose to ask nothing, and to wait 
the event. 

When the twelve hundred purses were arrived, 
his treasurer, Grothusen, who, during his long 
abode in Turkey, had learned the language of the 
country, went to wait upon the basha without an 
interpreter, hoping to draw the money from him, 
and afterwards to form some new intrigue at the 
Porte, foolishly supposing, as he always did, that 
the Swedish party would at last be able to arm 
the Ottoman empire against the czar. 

Grothusen told the basha, that the king could 
not get ready his equipages without money : * But,' 
said the basha, ' we shall defray all the expenses 
of your departure ; your master shall be at no 
charge while he continues under my protection.' 

Grothusen replied, that the difference between 
the equipages of the Turks and those of the Franks 
•was so great, that they were obliged to apply to 
the Swedish and Polish artificers at Vamitza. 

He assured him that his master was willing to 
depart, and that this money would facilitate and 
hasten his departure. The too credulous basha 
gave the twelve hundred purses, and a few days 
after came to the king, and in a most respectful 
manner begged to receive his orders for his de- 
parture. 

He was extremely surprised when the king told 
him he was not yet ready to go, and that he want- 



CHARLES All. 217 

ed a thousand purses more. The basha, con- 
founded at this answer, stood speechless for a 
moment ; then retiring to a window, he was ob- 
served to shed some tears. At last addressing 
himself to the king ; ' I shall lose m j head,' says 
he, ' for having obliged your majesty : 1 have 
given you the twelve hundred purses against the 
express orders of the sovereign.' So saying he 
took his leave with a dejected countenance. 

The king stopped him, and said that he would 
make an excuse for him to the sultan. ' Ah !' re- 
plied the Turk, as he-was going away, 'my master 
can punish faults, but cannot excuse them.' 

Ismael Basha carried this piece of news to the 
chara, who having received the same orders with 
the basha, not to suffer the twelve hundred purses 
to be given to the king before his departure, and 
having consented to the delivery of the money, 
was as apprehensive as the basha, of the grand 
seignior's indignation. They both wrote to the 
Porte in their own vindication, protesting they 
did not give the twelve hundred purses, but upon 
a solemn promise from the king's minister that he 
would depart without delay, and beseeching his 
highness not to impute the king's refusal to their 
disobedience. 

Charles, still persisting in the belief that the 
chara and basha meant to deliver him up to his 
enemies, ordered M. Funk, who was then his 
envoy at the Ottoman court to lay his complaints 
against them before the sultan, and to ask a thou- 
sand purses more. His great generosity, and the 
little account he made of money, hindered him 
from perceiving the meanness of this proposal. He 
did it with a view to be refused, and in order to find 
a fresh pretext for delaying his departure. But a 
man must be reduced to strange extremities, to 
6taad in need of such artifices. Savari, his inter- 
K 



218 HISTORY OF 

preter, an artful and enterprising man, carried the 
letter to Adrianople, in spite of all the care which 
the grand vizier had taken to guard the passes. 

Funk was obliged to present this dangerous 
request. All the answer he received was to be 
thrown into prison. The sultan, in a passion, 
convoked an extraordinary divan, and, what very 
seldom happens, spoke himself on the occasion. 
His speech, according to the translation which 
was then made of it, was conceived in the fol- 
lowing terms. 

* I hardly ever knew the king of Sweden but 
by his defeat at Pultowa, and by the application 
he made to me to grant him an asylum in my do- 
minions. I have not, I believe, any need of him, 
nor any reason either to love or fear him. Never- 
theless, without consulting any other motives than 
the hospitality of a Mussulman, and my own ge- 
nerosity, which sheds the dew of its favours upon 
the great as well as the small, upon strangers as 
well as my own subjects, I have received and as- 
sisted him, his ministers, officers, and soldiers, 
and, for the space of three years and an half have 
continued to load him with presents. 

' I have granted him a considerable guard to 
conduct him back to his own kingdom. He asked 
a thousand purses to defray some expenses, 
though I pay them all. Instead of a thousand, I 
granted him twelve hundred. After having got 
these out of the hands of the seraskier of Bender, 
he asks a thousand purses more, and refuses to 
depart, under a pretence that the guard is too 
small, whereas, in fact, it is but too large to pass 
through the country of a friend. 

• I ask you then, whether it be a violation of the 
laws of hospitality to send back this prince ; and 
whether foreign powers ought to accuse me of 
cruelty and injustice, in case I should be oblige(} 



CHARLES XII. 219 

to compel him to depart.' All the members of 
the divan answered that such a conduct would be 
consistent with the strictest rules of justice. 

The mufti declared that Mussulmans were not 
bound to shew any hospitality to infidels, and much 
less to the ungrateful ; and he gave his fetsa, akind 
of mandate which commonly accompanies the im- 
portant orders of the grand seignior. These fetsas 
are revered as oracles, though the persons by 
whom they are given are as much slaves to the 
sultan as any others. 

The order and the fetsa were carried to Bender 
by the bouyouk Imraour, grand master of the 
horse, and a Chiaou basha, first usher. The basha 
of Bender received the order of the cham of Tar- 
tary; from whence he immediately repaired to 
Varnitza, to ask the king whether he would de- 
part in a friendly manner, or lay him under the 
necessity of executing the sultan's orders. 

Charles XII. being thus menaced, could not 
restrain his passion. * Obey your master, if you 
dare,' says he to the basha, * and leave mypresence 
immediately.' The basha, fired with indignation, 
returned at full gallop, contrary to the common 
custom of the Turks ; and meeting Fabricius by 
the way, he called out to him, without halting ; 
* The king will not listen to reason ; you will see 
strange things presently.* The same day he dis- 
continued the supply of the king's provisions, and 
removed the guard of janissaries. He caused in- 
timation to be made to the Poles and Cossacks at 
Varnitza, that, if they had a mind to have any 
provisions, they must quit the king of Sweden's 
camp, repair to Bender, and put themselves under 
the protection of the Porte. These orders were 
readily obeyed by all, and the king was left with- 
out any other attendants than the officers of his 
household, and three hundred Swedish soldiers. 



220 HISTORY OF 

to make head against twenty thousand Tartars, 
and six thousand Turks. 

There was now no provision m the camp either 
for man or horse. The king ordered twenty of 
the fine Arabian horses, which had been sent him 
by the grand seignior, to be shot without the camp, 
adding, ' I will have none of their provisions nor 
their horses.' This was an excellent feast to the 
Tartars, who, as all the world knows, think horse 
flesh delicious fare. Meanwhile the 'lurks and 
Tartars invested the king's little camp on all sides. 

Charles, without the least discomposure, order- 
ed Lis three hundred Swedes to raise regular in- 
trenchments, in which work he himself assisted; 
as did likewise his chancellor, his treasurer, his 
secretaries, his valets de chambre, and all his 
domestics. Some barricadoed the windows, and 
others fastened beams behind the doors, in the 
form of buttresses. 

After the house was suflBciently barricadoed, 
and the king had rode round his pretended forti- 
fications, he sat down to chess with his favourite, 
Grothusen, with as much tranquillity as if every 
thing had been perfectly safe and secure. Happily 
M. Fabricius, the envoy of Holstein, iid not lodge 
at Varnitza, but at a small village between Var- 
nitza and Bender, where Mr. Jeffreys, the Eng- 
lish envoy to the king of Sweden, likewise resided. 
These two ministers, seeing the storm ready to 
burst, undertook the office of mediators between 
the king and the Turks. The cham and especially 
the basha of Bender, who had no inclination to 
offer any violence to the Swedish monarch, re- 
ceived the ofifer of these two ministers with great 
satisfaction. They had two conferences at Bender, 
in which the usher of the seraglio, and the grand 
master of the horse, who had brought the sultan's 
Older and the mufti's fetsa assisted. 



CHARLES XII. 22X 

M. Fabricius* declared to them i hat his Swedish 
majesty had good reason to believe that they de- 
signed to deliver him up to his enemies in Poland. 
The cham, the basha, and all the rest, swore by 
their heads, and called God to witness, that they 
detested such a horrible piece of treachery ; and 
that they would shed the last drop of their blood 
rather than suffer even the least disrespect to be 
shewn to the king of Sweden ; adding, that they 
had in their hands the Russian and Polish am- 
bassadors, whose lives should be answerable for 
any affront that should be ofFered to the king of 
Sweden. In fine, they complained bitterly, that 
the king should entertain such injurious suspicions 
of those who had received and treated him with 
so much humanity and politeness. 

Though oaths are frequently the language of 
treachery, Fabricius could not help being con- 
vinced of their sincerity. He thought he could 
discern in their protestations such an air of ve- 
racity as falsehood can, at best, but imperfectly 
imitate. He was sensible there had been a secret 
correspondence between the cham of Tartary and 
Augustus ; but he was firmly persuaded, that the 
only end of their negotiation was to oblige Charles 
XII. to quit the dominions of the grand seignior. 
Whether Fabricius was mistaken or not, he as- 
sured them, he would represent to the king the 
injustice of his suspicions. ' But,' adds he, ' do 
you intend to compel him to depart"?' — 'Yes,' 
savs the basha, 'for such are the orders of our 
master.' He then entreated them to consider seri- 
ously whether that order implied that they should 
shed the blood of a crowned head. * Yes,' replies 
the cham, in a passion, ' if that crowned head dis- 
obeys the grand seignior in his owr> dominions/ 

♦ The whole of this account is relates^ by M. Fabricios 
in his letters. 



222 HISTORY OF 

In the mean time, every thing being ready for 
the assault, the death of Charles XII. seemed in- 
evitable. But as the sultan had not given them 
positive orders to kill him in case of resistance, 
the basha prevailed upon the cham to let him dis- 
patch an express to Adrianople, where the grand 
seignior then resided, to receive the last orders 
of his highness. 

Mr. Jeffreys, and M. Fabricius, having pro- 
cured this short respite, hastened to acquaint the 
king with it. They came with all the eagerness 
of people who bring good news ; but were re- 
ceived very coldly. He called them unsolicited 
mediators, and still persisted in the belief that 
the sultan's orders and the mufti's fetsa were 
both forged, inasmuch as they had sent to the 
Porte for fresh orders. 

The English minister retired, with a firm re- 
solution to interfere no more in the affairs of a 
prince so very obstinate and inflexible. M. Fa- 
bricius, beloved by the king, and more accus- 
tomed to his humour than the English minister, 
remained with him, and earnestly entreated him 
not to hazard so precious a life on such an un- 
necessary occasion. 

For answer, the king shewed him his fortifica- 
tions, and begged he would employ his good 
offices in procuring him soibe provisions. The 
Turks were easily prevailed on to allow pro- 
visions to be conveyed to the king's camp, until 
the return of the courier from Adrianople. The 
cham himself had strictly enjoined his Tartars, 
who were eager for pillage, not to make any at- 
tempt against the Swedes till the arrival of fresh 
orders ; so that Charles XII. went sometimes 
out of his camp with forty horse, and rode through 
the midst of the Tartars, who with great respect, 
left him a free passage. He even marched 



CHARLES XII. 223 

directly up to their lines, which instead of re- 
sisting, readily opened and allowed him to pass. 

At last, the order of the grand seignior being 
come, to put to the sword all the Swedes that 
should make the least resistance, and not even 
to spare the life of the king, the basha had the 
complaisance to shew the order to M. Fabricius, 
with a view of inducing him to make his last 
effort to bend, if possible, the obstinacy of Charles. 
Fabricius went immediately to acquaint him 
with these sad tidings. • Have you seen the 
order you mention,' said the kmg 1 ' I have,' re- 
plied Fabricius. * Well then, go tell them in 
my name, that this second order is another forgery 
of theirs, and that I will not depart.* Fabricius 
threw himself at his feet, fell into a passion, and 
reproached him with his obstinacy ; but all to 
no purpose. ' Go back to your Turks,' said the 
king to him, smiling ; • if they attack me, I know 
how to defend myself.' The king's chaplains 
likewise fell upon their knees before him, con- 
juring him not to expose to certain death the un- 
happy remains of Pultowa, and especially his 
own sacred person ; assuring him, at the same 
time, that resistance in such a cause was al- 
together unjustifiable ; and that it was a direct 
violation of all the laws of hospitality, to re- 
solve to continue with strangers against their 
will ; especially with thost strangers who had 
so long and so generously supported him. The 
king, who had heard Fabricius with great pa- 
tience, fell into a passion with his priests, and 
told them, that he had taken them to pray for 
him, and not to give him advice. 

The generals Hoord and Dardoff, tvho had al- 
ways declared against hazarding a battle which 
could not be attended but with fatal consequences, 
shewed the king their breasts covered with 



224 HISTORY OF 

wounds, which they had received in his service ; 
and assuring him that thoy were ready to lay 
down their lives for his sake, begged that it 
might be, at least, upon a more necessary occa 
fiion. 'I know,' says Charles XII. ' by your 
wounds and by my own, that we have fought 
valiantly together. You have hitherto done your 
duty, do it to-day likewise.' Nothing now re- 
mained but to pay an implicit obedience to the 
king's command. Every one was ashamed not 
to court death with their sovereign. Charles, 
being now prepared for the assault, enjoyed in 
secret the pleasing thought that he should have 
the honour of sustaining with three hundred 
Swedes the united eflForts of a whole army. He 
assigned to every man his post. His chancellor, 
Mullern, and the secretary, Empreus, and his 
clerks, were to defend the chancery-house ; baron 
Fief, at the head of the officers of the kitchen, 
was stationed in another post. A third place was 
to be guarded by the grooms of the stable and the 
cooks ; for with him every one was a soldier. 
He rode from the intrenchments to his house, 
promising rewards to every one, creating officers, 
and assuring them that he would exalt the very 
meanest of his servants, who should fight with 
courage and resolution, to the dignity of captains. 
It was not long before they beheld the com- 
bined army of the Turks and Tartars advancing 
to attack this little camp with ten pieces of can- 
non and two mortars. The horses tails waved 
in the air ; the clarions sounded ; the cries of 
' Alia, Alia,' were heard on all sides. Baron 
Grothusen, observing that the Turks did not mix 
in their cries any injurious reflections on the king, 
but only called him ' Demirbash,' i. e. Head of 
Iron, he instantly resolved to go out of the 
camp alone and unarmed ; and having accord- 



CHARLES Xir. 225 

ingly advanced to the lines of the janissaries, 
most of whom had received money from hira • 
'What then, my friends,' says he to them, in 
their own language, ' are you come to massacre 
three hundred defenceless Swedes f you brave 
janissaries, who pardoned a hundred thousand 
Russians, upon their crying, Amman, i. e. par- 
don ; have you forgot the many favours you have 
received from us "? and would you assassinate 
that great king of Sweden for whom you have so 
great a regard, and frnm whom you have received 
so many presents ? All he asks, my friends, is 
but the space of three days ; and the sultan's or- 
ders are not so strict as you are made to believe.' 

These words produced an effect which Gro- 
thusen himself could little have expected. The 
janissaries swore by their beards that they would 
not attack the king, but would grant liim the 
three days he demanded. In vain was the sig 
nal given for the assault. The janissaries were 
so far from obeying, that they threatened to fall 
upon their leaders, unless they would consent to 
grant three days to the king of Sweden. They 
came to the basha of Bender's tent, crying out 
that the sultan's orders were fictitious. To this 
unexpected sedition the basha had nothing to op- 
pose but patience. 

He affected to be pleased with the generous 
resolution of the janissaries, and ordered them 
to return to Bender. The cham of 'i'artary, a 
man of head-strong and impetuous passions, 
would have given the assault immediately with 
his own troops : but the basha, unwilling that 
the Tartars should have all the honour of taking 
the king, while himself perhaps might be punished 
for the disobedience of the janissaries, persuaded 
the cham to wait till the next day. 

On his return to Bender, the basha assembled 
K2 



226 HISTORY OF 

all the ofl5cers of the janissaries, and the oldest 
soldiers, to whom he both read and shewed the 
sultan's positive orders, and the mufti's fetsa. 
Sixty of the oldest of them, with venerable grey 
beards, who had received a thousand presents from 
the king's hands, proposed to go to him in person, 
to entreat him to put himself into their hands, 
and to permit them to serve him as guards. 

The basha agreed to the proposal, as indeed 
there was no expedient he would not willingly 
have tried, rather than be reduced to the neces- 
sity of killing the king. Accordingly these sixty 
veterans repaired next morning to Varnitza, hav- 
ing nothing in their hands but long white rods, the 
onlyarmswhich the janissaries wear, unless when 
they are going to fight ; for the Turks consider the 
Christian custom of carrying swords in time of 
peace, and of entering armed into churches and the 
houses of their friends, as a barbarous practice. 

They addressed themselves to baron Gro- 
thusen, and chancellor Mullern. They told them 
that they were come with a view to serve as 
faithful guards to the king ; and that if he pleased 
they would conduct bim to Adrianople, where he 
might have a personal interview with the grand 
seignior. While they were making this proposal, 
the king read the letters which were brought 
from Constantinople, and which Fabricius, who 
could no longer attend him in person, had sent 
him privately by a janissary. These letters were 
from count Poniatowsky, who could neither serve 
him at Bender nor Adrianople, having been de- 
tained at Constantinople, by order of the Porte, 
ever since the time of his making the imprudent 
demand of a thousand purses. He told the king 
that the sultan's orders to seize or massacre his 
royal person, in case of resistance, were but too 
true ', that indeed the sultan was imposed upon 



CHARLES XII. 227 

by his ministers ; but the more he was imposed 
upon, lie would, for that very reason, be the 
more faithfully obeyed : that he must submit to 
the times, and yield to necessity : that he took 
the liberty to advise him to try every expedient 
with the ministers by way of negotiations ; not 
to be inflexible in a matter which required the 
gentlest management ; and to expect from time 
and good policy a cure of that evil, which by 
rash and violent measures would be only ren- 
dered incurable. 

But neither the proposal of the old janissaries, 
nor Poniatowsky's letters, could convince the 
king that it was consistent with his honour to 
yield. He rather chose to perish by the hands of 
the Turks, than in any respect to be made a pri- 
soner. He dismissed the janissaries without 
condescending to see them, and sent them word, 
that if they did not immediately depart, he would 
shave their beards for them : an aifront, which 
in the eastern countries is considered the most 
intolerable of all others. 

The old men, filled with the highest indig- 
nation, returned home, crying out as they went, 
' Ah this head of iron ! since he will perish, let 
him perish.' They gave the basha an account 
of their commission, and informed their com- 
rades at Bender of the strange reception they 
had met with ; upon which they all swore to 
obey the basha's orders without delay, and were 
as impatient to go to the assault as they had 
been averse to it the day before. 

The word of command was immediately given. 
The Turks marched up to the fortifications : the 
Tartars were already waiting for them, and the 
cannon began to play. The janissaries on the 
one side, and the Tartars on the other, instantly- 
forced the little camp. Hardly had twenty 



228 HISTORY OF 

Swedes time to draw their swords, when the 
whole three hundred were surrounded and taken 
prisoners without resistance. The king was then 
on horseback, between his house and his camp, 
with the generals Hoord, DardofF. and Sparre ; 
and seeing that all his soldiers Imd suffered 
themselves to be taken prisoners before his eyes, 
he said, with great composure, to these three of- 
ficers, * Come, let us go and defend the house ; we 
will fight,' adds he, with a smile, 'pro arisetfocis.' 

Accordingly, accompanied by these three ge- 
nerals, he forthwith gallops up to the house, in 
•which he had placed about forty domestics as 
centinels, and which he had fortified in the best 
manner he could. 

The generals, accustomed as they were to the 
dauntless intrepidity of their master, could not 
help being surprised to see him resolve in cold 
blood, and even with an air of pleasantry, to de- 
fend himself against ten pieces of cannon, and a 
whole army : nevertheless they followed him, 
with some guards and domestics, making in all 
about twenty persons. 

When they came to the door, they found it be- 
set by the janissaries. Besides, two hundred 
Turks and Tartars had already entered by a 
window, and made themselves masters of all 
the apartments, except a large hall where the 
king's domestics had retired. Happily this hall 
was near the door, at which the king designed to 
enter with his little troop of twenty persons. 
He threw himself oflF his horse with pistol and 
sword in hand, and his followers did the same. 

The janissaries fell upon him on all sides. 
They were animated with the promise which the 
basha had made, of eight ducats of gold to every 
man who should only touch his clothes, in case 
they could take him. He wounded and killed 



CHARLES XII. 229 

all those who came wear him. A janissary, 
whom he wounded, clapped his blunderbuss to 
his face, and had he not be^^n jostled by the arm 
of a Turk, owing to the crowd that moved back- 
wards and forwards like waves, the king had 
certainly been killed. The ball grazed upon his 
nose, and carried off part of his ear, and then 
broke the arm of general Hoord, whose constant 
fate it was to be wounded by his master's side. 

The king plunged his sword in the janissary's 
breast. At the s^ame time, his domestics, who 
were shut up in the great hall, open the door to 
him. The king, with his little troop, sj)ring3 
in like an arrow. 'I'hey instantly shut the door, 
and barricade it with whatever they can find. 
Thus was Charles XI I. shut up in this hall with 
all his attendants, consisting of about sixty men, 
oflScers, guards, secretaries, valets de chambre, 
and domestics of every kind. 

The janissaries and Tartars pillaged the rest 
of the house, and filled the apartments. * Come,' 
says the king, ' let us go and drive out these bar- 
barians ;' and putting himself at the head of his 
men, he with his own hands opens the door of 
the hall that leads to his bed-chamber, rushes 
into the room, and fires upon the plunderers. 

The Turks, loaded with spoil, and terrified at 
the appearance of the king, whom they bad ever 
been accustomed to respect, throw down their 
arms, leap out of the window, or fly to the cel- 
lars. The king, taking advantage of their con- 
fusion, and his own men being animated by the 
success of this attempt, they pursue the Turks 
from chamber to chamber, kill or wound those 
who had not made their escape, ?.nd in a quarter 
of an hour clear the house of the enemy. 

In the heat of the fight the king perceived two 
janissaries who lay concealed under his bed, one 



230 HISTORY OF 

of them he stabbed with his sword, the other 
asked pardon, by crying, * Amman.' — ' 1 give you 
your life,' says the king to him, * on this con- 
dition, that you go and give the basha a faithful 
account of what you have seen.' The Turk 
readily promised to do as he was bid, and was 
allowed to leap out at the window like the rest. 

The Swedes having at last made themselves 
masters of the house, again shut and barricadoed. 
the windows. They were in no want of arms. 
A ground room full of muskets and powder had 
escaped the tumultuary search of the janissaries : 
these they employed to good purpose. They 
fired through the windows almost close upon the 
Turks, of whom, in less than half a quarter of an 
hour they killed two hundred. The cannon still 
played upon the house ; but the stones being 
very soft, there were only some holes made in 
the walls, and nothing was demolished. 

The cham of Tartary, and the basha, were de- 
sirous of taking the king alive, being ashamed to 
lose so many men, and to employ a whole army 
against sixty persons, thought it most advisable 
to set fire to the house, in order to oblige the 
king to surrender. They ordered some arrows, 
twisted about with lighted matches, to be shot 
upon the roof, and against the doors and win- 
dows. In a moment the house was in flames. 
The roof all on fire was ready to tumble upon the 
Swedes. The king, with great calmness, gave 
orders to extinguish the fire. Finding a small 
barrel full of liquor, he took it up, and being as- 
sisted by two Swedes, threw it upon the place 
where the fire was most violent. At last he re- 
collected that the barrel was full of brandy ; but 
the hurry inseparable from such a scene of con- 
fusion, hindered him from thinking of it in time. 
The fire now raged with double fury. The king's 



CHARLES XII. 231 

apartment was reduced to ashes. The great 
ball where the Swedes were, was filled with a ter- 
rible smoke, mixed with sheets of flame, that 
darted in at the doors of the neighbouring apart- 
ments. One half of the roof sunk within the 
house, the other fell on the outside, cracking 
amidst the flames. 

In this extremity, a centinel called Walberg, 
ventured to cry, that there was a necessity for 
surrendering. 'What a strange man is this/ 
says the king, * to imagine, that it is not more glo- 
rious to be burnt than taken prisoner !' Another 
centinel, named Kosen, had the presence of 
mind to observe, that the chancery -house, which 
was not above fifty paces distant, had a stone 
roof, and was proof against fire ; that they ought 
to sally forth, take possession of that house, and 
then defend themselves to the last extremity. 
' There is a true Swede for you,' cries the king, 
and embracing the centinel, he made him a 
colonel upon the spot. ' Come on, my friends,' says 
he, 'take as much powder and ball with you as 
you can, and let us take possession of the chan- 
cery, sword in hand.' 

The Turks, who all the while surrounded the 
house, were struck with fear and admiration, to 
see the Swedes continue in it, notwithstanding 
it was all in flames ; but their astonishment was 
greatly increased when they saw the doors open- 
ed, and the king and his followers rushing out 
upon them like so many madmen. Charles and 
his principal officers were armed with sword and 
pistol. Every man fired two pistols at once, the 
moment the doors were opened ; and in the twink- 
ling of an eye, throwing away their pistols, and 
drawing their swords, they made the Turks recoil 
above fifty paces : but in a moment after, this little 
troop was suirounded. The king, who was booted 



232 HISTORY OF 

as usual, entangled himself with his spurs and 
fell. One and twenty janissaries at once spring 
upon him. He throws up his sword into the air, 
to save himself the mortification of surrendering 
it. The Turks bear him to the basha's quarters, 
some taking hold of his arms, and others of his' 
legs, in the same manner as sick persons are 
wont to be carried, in order to prevent their 
being hurt. 

No sooner did the king see himself in their 
hands, than the violence of his temper, and the 
fury which such a long and desperate fight must 
have naturally inspired, gave place at once to a 
mild and gentle behaviour : not one word of im- 
patience dropped from his lips; not one angrj 
look was to be seen in his face. He eyed the 
janissaries with a smiling countenance, and they 
carried him off crying, 'Alia,' with a mixture of 
respect and indignation. His officers were taken 
at the same tin.e and stripped by the Turks 
and Tartars. It was on the I'ifth of February, 
1713, that this strange event happened; an 
event that was followed with very remarkable 
consequences.* 

* M. Norberg, who was not present at this adventure, 
hath in this particular part of his history only copied 
the account of M. de Voltaire ; but he' has mangled it : 
he hath suppressed some interesting circumstances, and 
has not been able to justify the temerity of Charles XII. 
All that he hath been able to advance against M. de 
Voltaire, with regard to the affair of Bender, is reducible 
to the adventure of the sieur Fredericus, valet de cham- 
bre to the king of Sweden, who, accorling to some, was 
burnt in the king's house, and according to others, wag 
cut in two bj' the Tartars. La Motraye alleges likewise, 
that the king of Sweden did not use these words, ' We 
will fight pro aris el Jvcis.' But M. Fabricius, who 
was present, aflQrms, that the king did pronounce these 
words ; that La Motraye was not near enough to bear 



CHARLES XU. 233 



BOOK VII. 

The Turks conrey Charles to Demirtash. King Sta- 
nislaus is taken at tiie same time. Bold undertaking 
of M. de Villelongue. Revolutions in the seraglio. 
Battle in Pomerania. Alteiia buint by the Swedes. 
Charles at last sets out on his return to his own domi- 
nions ; his strange manner of travelling ; his arriral 
at Stralsuud ; his misfortunes. Successes of Peter 
the Great ; his triumphant entry into Petersburg. 

nPHE basha of Bender, with great gravity, 
waited for Charles in his tent, attended by 
one IMarco, an interpreter. He received his 
majesty in a most respectful manner, and en- 
treated him to repose himself on a sopha ; but 
the king, who did not so much as take notice of 
the Turk's civilities, continued standing. 

' Blessed be the Almighty,' says the basha, 
' that your majesty is alive : 1 am extremely 
sorry that your majesty obliged me to execute 
the orders of his highness.' I he king, who was 
only vexed that his three hundred soldiers should 
have suffered themselves to be taken in their in- 
trenchments, said to the basha, ' Ah ! had they 
defended themselves as they ought, you would 
not^ have been able to force our camp in ten 
days.' — 'Alas!' says the Turk, 'that so much 
courage should be so ill employed !' He ordered 
the king to be conducted back to Bender on a 
horse richly caparisoned. All the Swedes were 
either killed or taken prisoners. All his equi- 
page, his goods, his papers, and most necessary 
utensils were either plundered or burnt. One 

them ; and that if he had he was not capable of compre- 
hending their meaning, as he did not understand a word 
of Latin. 



234 HISTORY OF 

might have seen in the public roads the Swedish 
officers, almost naked, and chained together in 
pairs, following the Tartars or Janissaries on foot. 
The chancellor and the general officers did not 
meet with a milder fate ; they were the slaves of 
the soldiers, to whose share they had fallen. 

Ismael basha, having conducted Charles to his 
seraglio, at Bender, gave him his own apartment, 
and ordered him to be served like a king ; but 
not without taking the precaution to plant a guard 
of janissaries at the chamber door. A bed was 
prepared for him ; but he threw himself down up- 
on a sopha, booted as he was, and fell fast asleep. 
An officer who stood near him in waiting, covered 
his head with a cap ; but the king, upon awaking 
from his first sleep, threw it off"; and the Turk 
was surprised, to see a sovereign prince sleeping 
in his boots and bare-headed. Next morning 
Ismael introduced Fabricius into the king's 
chamber, fabricius found his majesty with his 
clothes torn ; his boots, his hands, and his whole 
body covered with dust and blood, and his eye- 
brows burnt; but still maintaining, in this ter- 
rible condition, a placid and cheerful look. He 
fell upon his knees before him, without being 
able to utter a word ; but soon recovering from 
his surprise, by the free and easy manner in 
which the king addressed him. he resumed his 
wonted familiarity with him, and they began to 
talk of the battle of Bender with great good 
humour and pleasantry. * It is reported,' says 
Fabricius, ' that your majesty killed twenty janis- 
saries with your own hand.' — ' Well, well,' re- 
plies the king, ' a story, you know, never loses 
in the telling.' During this conversation, the 
basha presented to the king his favourite Gro- 
thusen, and colonel Ribbins, whom he had had 
the generosity to redeem at his own expense. 



CHARLES XII. 235 

Fabricius undertook to ransom the other pri- 
soners. 

Jeflfreys, the English envoy, joined his endea- 
vours with those of Fabricius, in order to pro- 
cure the money necessary for this purpose. A 
Frenchman, who had come to Bender out of 
mere curiosity, and who hath wrote a short ac- 
count of these transactions, gave all that he had ; 
and these strangers, assisted by the interest and 
even by the money, of the basha, redeemed not 
only the officers, but likewise their clothes, from 
the hands of the Turks and Tartars. 

Next day, the king was conducted as a pri- 
soner, in a chariot covered with scarlet, towards 
Adrianople. His treasurer, Grothusen, was with 
him. Chancellor Mullern and some officers fol- 
lowed in another carriage. Several were on 
horseback ; and when they cast their eyes on 
the king's chariot, they could not refrain from 
tears. The basha was at the head of the con- 
voy : Fabricius told him, that it was a shame 
the king should want a sword, and begged he 
would give him one. ' God forbid,' says the 
basha, ' he would cut our beards for us, if he had 
a sword.' However, he gave him one a few 
hours after. 

While they were conducting this king, dis- 
armed and a prisoner, who, but a few years be- 
fore, had given law to so many states, and had 
seen himself the arbiter of the North, and the 
terror of Europe, there appeared in the same 
place another instance of the frailty of human 
greatness. 

King Stanislaus had been seized in the Turk- 
ish domiuions, and they were now carrying him 
a prisoner to Bender at the very time that they 
were removing Charles from it. 

Stanislaus, being no longer supported by the 



236 HISTORY OF 

hand which had raised him to the throne, and find- 
ing himself destitute of money, and consequently 
of interest in Poland, had retired at first into Po- 
merania ; and, unable to preserve his own king- 
dom, he had done all that lay in his power to de- 
fend that of his benefactor : he had even gone to 
Sweden, in order to hasten the reinforcements 
that were so much wanted in Livonia and Pome- 
rania. In a word, he had done every thing that 
could be expected from the friend of Charles XII. 
About this time, the first king of Prussia, a prince 
of great prudence, being justly apprehensive of 
danger from the too near neighbourhood of the 
Muscovites, thought proper to enter into a league 
with Augustus and the republic of Poland, in 
order to send back the Russians to their own 
country, and he hoped to engage the king of 
Sweden himself in this project. From this plan 
three great events were expected to result ; the 
peace of the North, the return of Charles to his 
own kingdom, and the establishment of a strong 
barrier against the Russians, whose power was 
already become formidable to Europe. The pre- 
liminary article of this treaty, upon which the 
public tranquillity depended, was the abdication 
of Stanislaus ; who not only accepted the pro- 
posal, but even undertook to use his endeavours 
in bringing about a peace which deprived him of 
his crown. To this step he was prompted by 
necessity, the public good, the glory of the sacri- 
fice, and the interest of Charles XII. Rewrote 
to Bender. He explained to the king of Sweden 
the desperate situation of his affairs, and the only 
effectual remedy that could be applied. He con- 
jured him not to oppose an abdication which was 
rendered necessary by the strange conjunctures of 
the times, and honourable by the noble motive 
from which it proceeded. He entreated him uot 



CHARLES XII. 237 

to sacrifice the interests of Sweden to those of an 
unhappy friend, who clieerfully preferred the 
public good to bis own private happiness. Charles 
XII. rec<ived these letters at Varnitza. He said 
to the courier in a passion, in presence of several 
witnesses, ' If my friend will not be a king, Icaa 
easily find another that will.' 

Stanislaus was obstinately bent on making the 
sacrifice which Charles opposed. These times 
seem to have been destined by Providence to pro- 
duce strange sentiments and still stranger actions. 
Stanislaus resolved to go himself, and endeavour 
to prevail upon Charles ; and thus he ran a greater 
risk in abdicating the throne, than ever he had 
done in obtaining it. One evening, about six 
o'clock, he stole from the Swedish army, which 
he commanded in Pomerania, and set out, ia 
company with baron Sparr and another colonel, 
the former of whom hath since been an ambassa- 
dor in France and England. He assumed the 
name of a French gentlemen, called Haran, who 
was then a major in the Swedish army, and lately 
died commander of Dantzic. He passed close by 
the whole army of the enemy ; was sometimes 
stopped, and as often released by virtue of a pass- 
port which he got in the name of Haran. At length, 
after many perils and dangers, he arrived on the 
frontiers of Turkey. 

As soon as he had reached Moldavia, he sent 
back baron Sparr to the army, and entered Yassy, 
the capital of Moldavia, thinking.himself perfectly 
secure in a country wbere the king of Sweden 
had been treated with so much respect, and never 
entertaining the least suspicion of what had hap- 
pened. 

The Moldavians asked him who he was 1 He 
said he was a major of a regiment in the service 
of Charles XII. At the bare mention of that 



238 HISTORY OF 

name h& was seized, and carried before the ho9» 
padar of Moldavia, who, having already learned 
from the gazettes that Stanislaus had privately 
withdrawn from his army, began to suspect that 
this was probably the man. He had heard the 
king's figure described so exactly, that it was 
very easy to discover the resemblance ; an open 
and engaging countenance, and a very uncommon 
air of sweetness. 

The hospadar examined him, put to him a 
great many captious questions, at last asked him 
what commission he bore in the Swedish army. 
Their conversation was carried on in Latin. 
Major sum, says Stanislaus. Imo maximus es, 
replies the Moldavian ; and immediately pre- 
senting him with a chair of state, he treated him 
like a king ; but stiil a king who was a prisoner, 
placing a strict guard about a Greek convent, in 
which he was obliged to remain, till such time as 
the sultan's orders should arrive. At length 
these orders came, importing, that Stanislaus 
should be carried to Bender, from which Charles 
XII. had been just removed. 

The news of this event was brought to the 
basha, at the time he was accompanying the king 
of Sweden's chariot. The basha communicated 
the particulars to Fabricius, who, coming up to 
Charles's chariot, told him he was not the only 
king that was a prisoner in the hands of the 
Turks ; and that Stanislaus was but a few miles 
off, under a guard of soldiers. ' Run to him, 
my dear Fabricius,' says Charles, without being 
in the least disconcerted ; ' tell him never to 
make a peace with Augustus, and assure him that 
our affairs will soon take another turn.' So 
much was Charles wedded to his own opinions, 
that , abandoned as he was in Poland, attacked 
in his own dominions, a captive in a Turkish 



CHARLES XII. S39 

litter, and led a prisoner without knowing whi- 
ther they were carrrying him, he still reckoned 
on the favour of fortune, and hoped the Otto- 
man Porte would assist him with a hundred 
thousand men. f abricius Lastened to execute 
his commission, attended by a janissary, hav- 
ing first obtained leave from the basha. At 
a few miles distance he met the body of sol- 
diers that conducted Stanislaus. He addressed 
himself to a person that rode in the midst of them 
clad in a French dress, and but indiflFerently 
mounted ; and asked him in the German tongue, 
where the king of Poland was. The person to 
whom he spoke happened to be Stanislaus him- 
self, whose features he could not recollect under 
this disguise. ♦ What !' says the king, ' don't 
you know me V Fabricius then informed him of 
the wretched condition in which the king of 
Sweden was; but added, that his resolutions, how- 
ever unsuccessful, were as determined as ever. 

As Stanislaus was drawing near to Bender, 
the basha, who had returned thither after having 
accompanied Charles for some miles, sent the 
king of Poland an Arabian horse, with a mag- 
nificent harness. 

He was received at Bender amidst a dis- 
charge of the artillery ; and, excepting his con- 
finement, from which he was not as yet delivered, 
he had no great cause to complain of his treat- 
ment.* Meanwhile Charles was on his way to 
Adrianople. Nothing was talked of in that town 

* The good chaplain, Norberg, alleges that we are 
here gailty of a manifest contradiction, in supposing, 
that king Stanislaus was at once detained a prisoner, 
and treated as a king, at Bender. What ! had not the 
poor man discernment enough to perceive, that it is very 
possible for a person, at one and the same time> to be 
loaded with honour and deprived of his libertj 1 



240 HISTORY OF 

but his late battle. The Turks at once con- 
demned and admired him ; but the divan was so 
provoked, that they threatened to confine him in 
one of the islands of the Archipelago. 

Stanislaus, king of Poland, from whom I had 
the honour to receive the greatest part of these 
particulars, assured me likewise, that a proposal 
was made in the divan for confining him in one 
of the islands of Greece ; but the grand seignior, 
being mollified a few months after, allowed him 
to depart. 

M. Desaleurs, who could have taken his part, 
and could have prevented the Turks from offer- 
ing such an affront to all Christian kings, was at 
Constantinople ; as was likewise M. Ponia- 
towsky, whose fertile and enterprisiug genius 
the divan had always dreaded. Most of the 
Swedes at Adrianople were in prison ; and the 
sultan's throne seemed to be inacessible to any 
complaints of the king of Sweden. 

The marquis dc Fierville, who had resided 
with Charles at Bender as a private agent of 
France, was then at Adrianople. He undertook 
to do that prince a piece of service, at a time 
when he was abandoned or oppressed by all the 
world besides. In this design he was happily 
assisted by a French gentleman, of an ancient 
family in Champagne, called Villelongue, a man 
of great courage, but who, not having a fortune 
equal to his spirit, and charmed with the fame 
of the king of Sweden, had repaired to Turkey 
with a view of entering into the service of that 
prince. 

With the assistance of this young man, M. de 
Fierville wrote a memorial in the king of Swe- 
den's name, in which he made his majesty de- 
mand satisfaction of the sultan for the insult, 
which, in his person, had been offered to all 



CHARLES XII. 241 

crowned heads, and for the treachery, either 
real or supposed, of the cham and basha of 
Bender. 

In this memorial he accused the vizier and 
other ministers of having received bribes from 
the Russians, imposed upon the grand seignior, 
intercepted the king's letters to his highness, and 
of having, by their artifices, extorted from the 
sultan an order so contrary to the hospitality of 
Mussulmans, by which, in direct violation of the 
laws of nations, and in a manner so unworthy 
of a great emperor, they had attacked, with 
twenty thousand men, a king who had none but 
his domestics to defend him, and who relied up- 
on the sacred word of the sultan. 

When this memorial was drawn up, it was to 
be translated into the Turkish language, and 
written in a particular hand, and upon a certain 
kind of paper, which is always used in addresses 
to the sultan. 

For this purpose they applied to several French 
interpreters in the town ; but the affairs of the 
king of Sweden were in such a desperate situa- 
tion, and the vizier was so much his declared 
enemy, that not a single interpreter would un- 
dertake the task. At last they found a stranger, 
whose hand was not known at the Porte, who, 
having received a handsome gratuity, and being 
fully assured of the most profound secrecy, tran- 
slated the memorial into the Turkish tongue, 
and wrote it upon the right kind of paper. Baron 
d'Arvidson, a Swedish officer, counterfeited the 
king's subscription. Fierville, who had the royal 
Bignet, appended it to the writing, and the whole 
was sealed with the arms of Sweden. Ville- 
longue undertook to deliver it into the hands of 
the grand seignior, as he went to the mosque, ac- 
cording to his usual custom. The like methods 
L 



S48 HISTORY OF 

had been frequently employed for presenting 
memorials to the sultan against his ministers; 
but that very circumstance rendered the success 
of this enterprise the more precarious, and th« 
danger of the attempt the more imminent. 

The vizier, who plainly foresaw that the 
Swede would demand justice of the sultan, and 
who, from the unhappy fate of his predecessors, 
had but too many warnings to provide for his 
own safety, had given peremptory orders to allow 
no one to approach the grand seignior's person, 
but to seize all such as should be about the mosque 
with petitions in their hands. 

Villelongue was well apprised of this order, 
and at the same time knew, that, by breaking it, 
he run the risk of losing his head. He there- 
fore laid aside his Frank's dress, and put on a 
Grecian habit ; and concealing the letter in his 
bosom, repaired betimes to the neighbourhood of 
the mosque, to which the grand seignior resorted. 
He counterfeited the madman, and dancing 
between two files of janissaries, through which 
the sultan was to pass, he purposely let some 
pieces of money drop from his pockets, as if by 
chance, in order to amuse the guards. 

When the sultan was drawing near, the guards 
endeavoured to remove Villelongue out of the 
way ; but he fell on his knees, and struggled with 
the janissaries. At last his cap fell off, and he 
was discovered by his long hair to be a Frank. 
He received several blows, and was very roughly 
handled. The grand seignior, who was at no 
great distance, heard the scuffle, and asked the 
cause of it. Villelongue cried out with all his 
might, ^ffjwian/ Amman! Mercy! pulling the 
letter at the same time out of his bosom. The 
sultan ordered the guards to let him approach. 
Villelongue instantly runs up to him, embraces 



CHARLES XII. 243 

his stirrup, and presents the memorial, saying. 
Sued crall dan, ' The king of Sweden gives i* 
thee.' The sultan put the letter in his bosom, 
and proceeded to the mosque. Meantime Ville- 
longue was secured and imprisoned in one of the 
exterior apartments of the seraglio. 

The sultan, having read the letter upon his 
leaving the mosque, resolved to examine the pri- 
soner himself. This perhaps will appear some- 
what incredible; nothing, however, is here ad- 
vanced, but what ft vouched by the letters of 
M. de Villelongue ; and surely, when so brave 
an officer affirms any thing upon his honour, he 
merits, at least, some credit. He assured me 
then that the sultan laid aside his imperial garb 
and turban, and disguised himself like an officer 
of the janissaries, a thing which he frequently 
does. He brought along with him an old man 
of the island of Malta, as an interpreter. By 
favour of this disguise, Villelongue enjoyed an 
honour which no Christian ambassador ever ob- 
tained. He had a privat-e conference with the 
Turkish emperor for a quarter of an hour. He 
did not fail to represent the wrongs which the 
king of Sweden had suffered, to accuse the mi- 
nisters, and to demand satisfaction ; and all this 
with so much the more freedom, as in talking to 
the sultan he was only supposed to be talking to 
his equal. He could easily discover, notwith- 
standing the darkness of the prison, that it was 
no other than the grand seignior himself ; bat this 
discovery only made him speak with the greater 
boldness. The pretended officer of the janissaries 
said to Villelongue ; ' Christian, be assured, that 
the sultan, my master, has the soul of an em- 
peror ; and that your king of Sweden, if he has 
reason on his side, shall obtain justice.' Ville- 
longue was soon set at liberty, and in a few weeks 



244 HISTORY OF 

after, a sudden change took place in the seraglio, 
owing, as the Swedes affirm, to this conference 
alone. The mufti was deposed ; the cham of 
Tartary was banished to Rhodes ; and the seras- 
kier basha of Bender was confined in one of the 
islands of the Archipelago. 

The Ottoman Porte is so subject to these revo- 
lutions, that it is hard to say, whether the sultan 
really meant to gratify the king of Sweden by 
these sacrifices. From tiie treatment which 
tliat prince received, it cannot surely be inferred, 
that the Porte had any great inclination to 
oblige him. 

The fttvourite, Ah Coumourgi, was suspected 
of having brought about all these changes, in 
order to serve his own particular views. The 
cham of Tartary and the ser.askier of Bender 
were said to have been banished for giving the 
king the twelve hundred purses, in contradiction 
to the express orders of the grand seignior. Cou- 
mourgi raised to the throne of Tartary the brother 
of the deposed cham, a young man of his ovm 
age, who had little regard for his brother, and 
upon whom the favourite depended greatly in 
prosecuting the wars he had already planned. 
With respect to the grand vizier Jussuf, he was 
not deposed till some weeks after ; and the title 
of prime vizier was bestowed on Soiiman basha. 

Truth obliges me to declare, that M. de Ville- 
longue and several Swedes assured me, that all 
these great revolutions at the Porte were entirely 
owing to the letter which was presented to the 
sultan in the king's name ; whereas M. de Fier- 
ville is of a qviite contrary opinion. I have some- 
times found the like contradictions in such me- 
morials as have been submitted to my perusal. 
In all these cases, it is the duty of an historian 
honestly to narrate the plain matter of fact, with- 



CHARLES Xn. 245 

out endeavouring to dive into the motives ; and 
to confine himself to the relation of what he does 
know, instead of indulging his fancy in vain con- 
iecture, about what he does not know. 

JVIeanwhile Charles XII. was conducted to 
the little castlj of Demirtash, in the neigh- 
bourhood of Adrianople. An innumerable mul- 
titude of people had crowded to this place to 
see the arrival of his majesty, who was car- 
ried from his chariot to the castle on a sopha ; 
but Charles, in order to conceal himself from 
the view of the populace, put a cushion upon his 
head. 

The Porte was strongly solicited to allow him 
to reside at Demotica, a little town six leagues 
from Adrianople, and near the famous river 
Hebrus, now called Merizza ; but it was not till 
after several days that they granted his request. 
* Go,' says Coumourgi to the grand vizier, So- 
liman, ' and tell the icing of Sweden, that he 
may stay at Demotica all his life long, if he 
pleases ; but 1 will answer for him, that, in less 
than a year, he will want to be gone of his own 
accord ; take care, however, not to give him any 
money.' 

Thus was the king conveyed to the little town 
of Demotica, where the Porte allotted him a 
considerable quantity of provisions for himself 
and his retinue. But all the money they would 
grant him was five-and-twenty crowns a- day, to 
buy pork and wine, two kinds of provisions which 
the Turks never furnish to others. The allow- 
ance of five hundred crowns a-day, which he 
had enjoyed at Bender, was entirely withdrawn. 

Hardly had he reached Demotica with his 
little court, when the grand vizier, Soliman, was 
deposed ; and his place filled by Ibrahim Molla, 
a man of high spirit, of great courage, and unpo- 



246 HISTORY OF 

lished manners. It may not be amiss to give a 
short sketch of his history, that so the reader may 
be the better acquainted with the characters of 
all those viceroys of the Ottoman empire, upon 
whom the fortune of Charles so long depended. . 

He had been a common sailor till the accession, 
of the sultan, Achmet III. This emperor fre- 
quently disguised himself in the habit of a private 
man, of a priest, or a dervise ; and slipped in 
the evening into the coffee-houses, and other 
public places at Constantinople, to hear what the 
people said of him, and what were their opinions 
concerning the affairs of state. One day he over- 
heard this Molla complaining that the Turkish 
ships never took any prizes, and swearing, that 
if he were captain of a ship, he would never enter 
the port of Constantinople without bringing some 
vessel of the infidels along with him. Next day 
the grand seignior gave him the command of a 
ship, and sent him on a cruize. The new captain 
returned in a few days, with a Maltese bark and 
a galley of Genoa. In two years time he was 
appointed captain general of the navy, and at 
last grand vizier. As soon as he had attained his 
new post, he thought he could easily dispense 
with the interest of the favourite. In order to 
render himself the more necessary, he formed a 
scheme for commencing a war against the Rus- 
sians, and with this view pitched a tent not far 
from the place where the king of Sweden resided. 

He invited his majesty to come and see him, 
with the new cham of Tartary, and the French 
ambassador. The king, whose pride rose with 
his misfortunes, considered it as a most intoler- 
able affront for a subject to send him an invita- 
tion. He ordered his chancellor, Mullern, to go 
in his place ; and, lest the Turks should not pay 
him that respect which was due to his royal per- 



CHARLES Xll. 247 . 

son, or oblige him to condescend to any thing 
beneath his dignity, Charles, who was ever in 
extremes, took to his bed, which he resolved not 
to leave during his abode in Demotica. This 
resolution he kept up for ten months, under pre- 
tence of sickness ; chancellor Mullem, GrotLu- 
sen, and colonel Dubens, being the only persons 
that were admitted to his table. They had none 
of the conveniences with which the Franks are 
usually provided : all these they had lost at 
Bender ; consequently it could not be expected 
that their meals were served with much pomp 
or elegance. In effect, they were obliged to 
serve themselves ; and, during the whole time, 
chancellor Mullern was cook in ordinary. 

While Charles XII. was thus passing his time 
in bed, he received the disagreeable news of the 
desolation of all his provinces, that lay without 
the limits of Sweden. 

General Steinbock, who had rendered himself 
illustrious by chasing the Danes out of Scania, 
and beating their best troops with a parcel of 
peasants, still maintained the glory of the Swedish 
arms. He defended Pomerania, Bremen, and 
the king's possessions in Germany, as long as he 
was able ; but could not hinder the combined 
army of the Danes and Saxons from besieging 
Stade, a town of great strength and importance, 
situated on the banks of the Elbe, in the duchy 
of Bremen. The town was bombarded and re- 
duced to ashes ; and the garrison obliged to sur- 
render at discretion, before Steinbock could come 
to their assistance. 

This general, who had about twelve thousand 
men, of whom the one half were cavalry, pursued 
the enemy, who were twice as numerous, and at 
last overtook them in the duchy of Mecklenburg, 
at a place called Gadcsbush, near a river of the 



t48 HISTORY OF 

same name. It was on the 20th of December, 
1712, that he came in sight of the Danes and 
Saxons. He was separated from them by a 
morass. The enemy were so posted as to have 
this morass in front, and a wood in their rear : 
they had the advantage of number and situa- 
tion ; and their camp was utterly inaccessible^ 
except across the morass, which the Swedes could 
not pass without being exposed to the fire of the 
enemy's artillery. 

Notwithstanding these difficulties, Steinbock 
passed the morass at the head of his troops, ad- 
vanced against the enemy in order of battle, and 
began one of the most desperate and bloody en- 
gagements which ever happened between these 
rival nations* After a sharp conflict for three hours> 
the Danes and Saxons were entirely routed, and 
obliged to quit the field of battle. 

It was in this battle that a son of Augustus, by 
the counte&s of Koningsmark, known by the 
name of count Saxe, served his apprenticeship in 
the art of war. This is the same count Saxe, wha 
had afterwards the honour to. be chosen duke oi 
Cotirland, and who wanted nothing but power to 
put himself in possession of the most incontesta- 
ble right which any man can have to sovereignty 
— I mean the unanimous consent of the people. 
In fine, this is the man who hath since acquired 
a more solid glory by saving France at the battle 
of Fontenoy, conquering Flanders, and meriting 
the character of the greatest general of the age. 
He commanded a regiment at Gadesbush, arid 
bad a horse killed under him. I have heard him 
say, that all the Swedes kept their ranks ; and 
that, even after the victory was gained, and the 
first lines of these brave troops saw their enemies 
lying dead at their feet, there was not so much 
as & single Swede that durst stoc^ to strip thena* 



CHARLES Xir. 249 

till prayers had been read in the field of battle ; 
to inflexibly did they adhere to thart strict disci- 
pline which their king had taught them. 

After the victory, Steinbeck, remembering that 
the Danes had laid Stade in ashes, resolved to 
retaliate on Altena, a town belonging to the king 
of Denmark. Altena standa below Hamburg, 
on the banks of the Elbe, which can convey ships 
of considerable burthen into its harbour. The 
king of Denmark had indulged this town with 
many privileges, hoping to make it one day a 
place of great trade : and indeed the industry of 
the inhabitants, encouraged by the prudent mea- 
sures of the king, had already laised them to 
8ueh opulence, that Altena began to be reckoned 
in the number of rich and commercial cities. 
Hamburg grew jealous of this rival in trade, and 
earnestly wished for its destruction. When Stein- 
bock came in sight of Altena, he sent a trumpet 
to acquaint the inhabitants, that they might re- 
tire with as many of their eflfects as they could 
carry off, for that he meant to raze their town to 
the foundation. 

The magistrates came and threw themselves 
at his feet, and offered him a hundred thousand 
crowns by way of ransom. Steinbeck demanded 
two hundred thousand. The inhabitants begged 
that they might ha.ve time, at least, to send to 
their correspondents at Hamburg, assuring him, 
that next day the money should be paid him ; but 
the Swedish general replied, that they must give 
it instantly, or he would immediately set Altena 
in flames. 

His troops were already in the suburbs, with 
torches in their hands. The town had no other 
defence but a poor wooden gate, and a ditch al- 
ready filled up. The wretched inhabitants were 
therefore obliged to leave their houses at mid- 
L2 



«50 HISTORY OF 

night, on the 9th of January, 17 13. The Ttgoup 
of the season, which was then excessive, wa» 
still further increased by a strong north wind^ 
which served at once to spread the fiames through 
the town with greater violence, and to render the 
miseries of the poor people, who were exposed 
in the open fields, the more intolerable. Mea 
and women» weeping and wailing, and bending 
under their heavy loads, fled to the neighbouring 
hills, which were covered with snow. The pal- 
sied old m^n were transported on the shoulder* 
of the young. Some women, newly delivered,, 
fled with their teader babes in their arms, and 
perished together on the naked roek, turning 
their languishing ey^s towards their dear country^ 
which was now wrapt in fiames. The Swedes 
set fire to the town, before the inhabitants had 
entirely left k. The conflagration continued from 
midnight till ten in the morning. The houses,^ 
being mostly of wood, were entirely consumed ;. 
and the next day there was not the least vestige 
of the town remaining. 

The aged, the sick,^ and women of tender con- 
stitutions, who had lodged on the sn&w while 
their houses were in flames, at last made a shift 
to crawl to the gates of Hamburg, where they 
besought the inhabitants, to receive them within, 
the walls, and thereby to save their lives. But 
this favour was denied them, because some con- 
tagious distempers were known lately to have 
raged in Altena; and the Hamburgers had not 
so great a regard for the inhabitants, as to run 
the risk of having their own town infected by ad- 
mitting such dangerous guests. Thus the greatest 
part of these unhappy people expired under the 
walls of Hamburg, calling on Heaven to witness 
the barbarity of the Swedes, and the still greateff 
inhumanity of the Ham.burgeBs» 



CHARLES XIT. 25t 

Al! Germany exclaimed against this outrage. 
The ministers and generals of Poland and I)en- 
snark wrote to count Steinbock, reproaching him 
with an act of cruelty, committed without neces- 
sity and incapable of any excuse, which could 
not fail to provoke heaven and earth against him, 

Steinbock replied, that he never would have 
pushed matters to such extremities, had it not 
been with a view to teach the enemies of the 
ting his master not to make war, for the future, 
like barbarians, but to pay some regard to tlie 
laws of nations ; that they had ifilled Pomerania 
•with their cruelties, laid waste that beautiful ppo- 
vince, and sold near a hundred thousand of its 
inhabitants to the Turks ; and that the torches 
which had laid Altena in ashes, were no more 
than just reprisals for the red-hot bullets which 
had destroyed Stade. 

Such was the implacable resentment with 
which the Swedes and their enemies carried on 
the war. Had Charles appeared in Pomerania 
at this time, he might possibly have retrieved his 
ruined fortune. His armies, though removed at 
so great a distance from his person, were still 
animated by his spirit; but the absence of a 
prince is always prejudicial to his aftairs, and 
hinders his subjects from making the proper use 
of their victories. Steinbock lost by piece-meal 
what he had gained by those signal actions, which 
at a happier juncture would have been decisive. 

Victorious as he was, he could not prevent the 
junction of the Russians, Danes, and Saxons. 
The combined army of these allies seised xj^n 
his quarters. He lost some troops in several 
little skirmishes. Two thousand of his men were 
drowned in passing the Eider, as they were going 
to their winter quarters in Holstein ; and all 
these lotises, in a country surrounded on every 



252 HISTORY OF 

side by powerful enemi*;s, were utterly irre- 
parable. 

He endeavoured to deend the duchy of Hol- 
stein against the Danes; but, notwithstanding 
all his prudent measures and vigorous efforts, 
the country was lost, his whole army ruined, and 
himself taken prisoner. 

Pomerania, all but Stralsund, the Isle of 
Rugen, and some neighbouring places, being left 
defenceless, became a prey to the allies, and was 
sequestered in the hands of the king of Prussia. 
Bremen was filled with Danish garrisons. At 
the same time, the Russians over-ran Finland, 
beat the Swedes, who, being now dispersed and 
inferior in point of number began to lose that su- 
periority over their enemies, which they had pos- 
sessed at the commencement of the war. 

To complete the misfortunes of Sweden, the 
king resolved to stay at Demotica, and still flat- 
tered himself with the delusive hopes of obtain- 
ing assistance from the Turks, in whom he ought 
no longer to have reposed any confidence. 

Ibrahim Molla, that bold vizier, who had been 
so obstinately bent on a war with the Russians, 
in opposition to the favourite, was strangled in 
one of the passages of the seraglio. 

The place of vizier was become so dangerous, 
that no one would venture to accept of it ; and 
of consequence it continued vacant for six months. 
At last the favouri«te, Ali Co.umourgi, assumed 
the title of grand vizier. This measure gave a 
fatal blow to all the hopes of the king of Sweden, 
who knew Coumourgi so much the better, that he 
had really been obliged to him for some friendly 
offices, when the interest of the favourite and that 
of his majesty happened to coincide. 

Charles had now been eleven months at De- 
motica, buried in sloth and oblivion. This ex« 



CHARLES XII. 253 

trerae indolence succeeding so suddenly to the 
most violent exercises, had at last given him the 
disease which he had formerly feigned. The re- 
port of his death was spread over all Europe. 
The council of regency, which he had established 
at Stockholm, when he left his capital, no longer 
received any dispatches from him. The senate 
came in a body to the princess Ulrica Eleonora, 
the king's sister, and entreated her to take the 
regency into her own hands, during her brother's 
absence. She accepted the proposal : but, finding 
that the senate intended to force her to make a 
peace with the czar and the king of Denmark, 
and well knowing that her brother would never 
approve of such a measure, she resigned the 
regency, and wrote a full and circumstantial 
account of the whole matter to the king in 
Turkey. 

Charles received his sister's packet at Demo- 
tica. The arbitrary principles which he had 
sucked in with his mother's milk, made him for- 
get that Sweden had formerly been a free state, 
and that, in ancient times, the management of 
public affairs was conducted by the king and 
senate, in conjunction. He considered that re- 
spectable body as no better than a parcel of 
menial servants, who wanted to usurp the com- 
mand of the house in their master's absence. He 
wrote to them, that if they pretended to assume 
the reins of government, he would send them one 
of his boots, from which he would oblige them 
to receive their orders. 

To prevent, therefore, these attempts (as he 
thought them) upon his authority in Sweden, 
and to defend his kingdom now in the last 
extremity, deprived of all hopes of assistance 
from the Ottoman Porte, and relying on himself 
alone, he signified to the grand vizier his desire 



254 HISTORY OF 

of departing, and returning by the way of Ger- 
many. 

M. Desaleurs, the French ambassador, who 
was charged with the affairs of Sweden, made 
the proposal. ' Well,* said the vizier to count 
Desaleurs, * did not I tell you, that in less than 
a year the king of Sweden would beg it as a fa- 
vour to be allowed to depart ? Tell him he may 
either go or stay as he pleases ; but let him come 
to a fixed resolution, and appoint the day of hia 
departure, that he may not again bring us into 
Buch another scrape as that of Bender.* 

Count Desaleurs softened the harshness of this 
answer, when he reported it to the king. The 
day was accordingly fixed ; but, before he would 
quit Turkey, Charles resolved to display the 
pomp of a great king, though involved in all the 
difficulties of a fugitive prince. He gave Gro» 
thusen the title of his ambassador extraordinary, 
and sent him with a retinue of eighty persons, 
all richly dressed, to take his leave in form at the 
Porte. 

The splendour of this embassy was only ex- 
ceeded by the meanness of the shifts which the 
king was obliged to employ, in order to collect a 
sum of money sufficient to defray the expense 
of it. 

M. Desaleurs lent him forty thousand crowns. 
Grothusen had agents at Constantinople, who 
borrowed in his name, at the rate of fifty per 
cent, interest, a thousand crowns of a Jew, two 
hundred pistoles of an English merchant, and a 
thousand livres of a Turk. 

By these means they procured wherewithal to 
enable them to act the splendid farce of the 
Swedish embassy before the divan. Grothusen 
received at the Porte all the honours that are 
usually paid to ambassadors extraordinary on the 



CHARLES XII. «55 

day of their audience The design of all this 
parade was only to obtain money from the grand 
vizier ; but that minister was inexorable. 

Grothnsen made a proposal for borrowing a 
million from the Porte. The vizier answered 
coldly, that his master knew how to give, when 
he thought proper, but that it was beneath his 
dignity to lend ; that the king should be sup- 
plied with plenty of every thing necessary for 
his journey, in a manner worthy of the person 
that sent him back ; and that the Porte, per- 
haps, might even make him a present in gold 
bullion, though he would not have him depend 
upon it for certain. 

At last, on the Ist day of October, 1714, the 
king of Sweden set out on his journey. A capigi 
basha, with six chiaoux, came to attend him 
from the castle of Demirtash, where he had re- 
sided for some days past. The basha presented 
him, in t'he name of the grand seignior, with a 
large tent of scarlet, embroidered with gold ; a 
sabre, whose handle was set with jewels ; and 
eight beautiful Arabian horses, with fine saddles, 
and stirrups of massy gold. It is not beneath 
the dignity of history to observe, that the Arabian 
groom who took care of the horses gave the king 
an account of their genealogy ; a custom which 
hath long prevailed among these people, who 
seem to be more attentive totlie nobility of horses 
than of men ; which after all, perhaps, is not so 
unreasonable, as these animals, if the breed is 
kept free from intermixture, are never known to 
degenerate. 

The convoy consisted of sixty loaded waggons, 
and three hundred horse. 1 he capigi basha, 
being informed tliat several Turks had lent 
money to the king of Sweden's attendants at an 
immoderate interest, told his majesty that usury 



956 HISTORY OF 

was forbidden by the Mahometan law; he there- 
fore entreated him to liquidate all these debts, 
and to order his resident at Constantinople to pay 
no more than the capital. ' No,' says the king, 
* if any of my servants have given bills for aa 
hundred crowns, I will pay them, though they 
should not even have received ten.' 

He made a proposal to his creditors to follow 
him, assuring them, at the same time, that he 
would not only pay their debts, but likewise in- 
demnify them for the expense of the journey. 
Several of them went to Sweden, and Grothusen 
was commissioned to see them paid. 

In order to shew the greater deference to their 
royal guest, the Turks made him travel by very 
short stages : but this slow and respectful mo- 
tion was ill-suited to the impatient spirit of the 
king. During the journey, he got up at three in 
the morning, according to his usual custom. As 
soon as he was dressed, he went himself and 
awakened the capigi and chiaoux, and began to 
march in the dark. The Turkish gravity was 
affronted with this new manner of travelling ; 
but Charles took pleasure in making them uneasy, ' 
and said, that he should at least be a little re- 
venged on them, for their behaviour to him at 
Bender. 

About the time that Charles reached the fron- 
tiers of Turkey, Stanislaus was leaving them, 
though by a different road, and going into Ger- 
many, with a view of retiring into the duchy of 
Deux-Ponts, a province bordering on the palati- 
nate of Alsace and the Rhine, and which has be- 
longed to the kings of Sweden ever since Charles 
X. the successor of Christina, united it to his 
crown. Charles assigned Stanislaus the revenue 
of this duchy, which was then valued at about 
seventy thousand crowns. Such was the final 



CHARLES XII. 257 

result of so many projects, wars, and expecta- 
tions ! Stanislaus both could and would have 
concluded an advantageous treaty with Augustus, 
had not the inflexible obstinacy of Charles made 
him lose his lands and real estate in Poland, ia 
order to preserve the empty title of king. 

This prince continued to reside in the duchy 
of Deux- Fonts till the death of Charles Xll. 
when that province returning to a prince of the 
palatinate family, he chose to retire to VVissem- 
burg, a place belonging to the French in Alsace. 
M. Sum, Augustus's envoy, entered a complaint 
on this head to the duke of Orleans, regent of 
France. The duke made him this remarkable 
answer : ' Sir, let the king your master know, 
that France hach never refused an asylum to 
kings in distress.' 

VVhen the king of Sweden arrived on the fron- 
tiers of Germany, he had the pleasure to hear, that 
the emperor had given strict o'ders to receive 
him in every part of his dominions with abecoming 
magnificence. The towns and villages, through 
which the quarter-masters had previously fixed 
his route, made great preparations for receiving 
him : every one burned with impatience to see 
this extraordinary man, whose victories and mis- 
fortunes, whose most trifling actions, and even 
his keeping his bed, had made so great a noise 
in Europe and Asia ; but Charles had no incli- 
nation to bear the fatigue of all this pomp and 
pageantry, or to exhibit as a public spectacle the 
prisoner of Bender. On the contrary, he had 
resolved never to re-enter Stockholm, until he 
should have repaired his losses by a change of 
fortune. 

As soon as he arrived at Targowitz, on the 
confines of Transylvania, he took leave of his 
Turkish convoy ; and then assembling his attend- 



258 HISTORY OF 

ants in a barn, he told them not to give them- 
selves any concern about him, but to proceed 
with all possible expedition to Stralsund in Po- 
merania, on the. coast of the Baltic, distant from 
Targowitz about three hundred leagues. 

He took nobody Avith him bur, two officers, 
Rosen and During, and parted cheerfully with 
the rest of his attendants, who were filled with 
astonishment, sorrow, and apprehension. Byway 
of disguise, he put on a black wig, concealing his 
own hair, which he always wore underneath it, a 
gold laced hat, a grey toat, and blue cloak ; and, 
assuming the name of a German officer, rode post 
with his two fellow-travellers. 

He shunned, as much as possible, the territo- 
ries of his secret or declared enemies, taking the 
road through Hungary, Moravia, Austria. Bava- 
ria, Wirtemberg, the Palatinate, Westphalia, 
and Mecklenburg ; by which means he almost 
made the complete tour of Germany, and length- 
ened his journey by one half. Having rode the 
whole first day, without intermission, young 
During, who was not so much inured to these ex- 
cessive fatigues, fainted away as he was dismount- 
ing. The king, who was determined not to halt 
a moment by the road, asked During, as soon 
as he had recovered, how much money he had? 
• About a thousand crowns in gold,' replies Dur- 
ing. ' Then give me one half of it.' says the 
ling : * I see you are not able to follow me — 1 
shall finish the journey by myself.' During 
begged ha would be so good as to tarry but for 
three hours, assuring him, that by that time he 
should be able to remount his horse and attend 
his majesty, and entreated him to reflect on the 
imminent dangers to which he would expose him- 
self by travelling alone. The king was inexora- 
ble. He made him give him the five hundred 



CHARLES XII. 259 

crowns, and called for horses. During, startled 
at this resolution, bethought himself of an inno- 
cent stratagem- He took the post- master aside, 
and pointing to the king — ' This gentleman,' says 
he, ' is my cousin : we are going together upon 
the same business : he sees that i am indisposed, 
and yet he will not wait for me but for three 
hours : pray give him the worst horse in jour 
stable, and let me have a chariot, or post-chaise.* 

He slipped two ducats into the post-master's 
hand, who punctually obeyed his orders. The 
king had a lame and restive horse, upon which 
he set out alone at ten at night, amidst darkness, 
snow, wind, and rain. His fellow traveller, after 
having slept a few hours, began to follow him in 
a chariot, with good horses. He had not rode 
many miles, when, at day-break, he overtook the 
king, who not being able to make his beast move 
on, was travelling on foot to the next stage. 

Charles was obliged to get into During's 
chaise, where he slept upon the straw. Thus they 
continued the journey without intermission, by day 
on horseback, and sleeping by night in a chaise. 

Having travelled for sixteen days, during 
which they had more than once been in danger 
of beings y»ken, they arrived at last, on the 21st 
of November, 1714, at the gates of Stralsund, 
about one in the morning. 

The king called out to the centinel, and told 
him that he was a courier dispatched from Turkey 
by the king of Sweden, and that he must im- 
mediately speak with general Uucker, the go- 
vernor. The centinel said that it was too late, 
that the governor was gone to bed, and that he 
must wait till break of day. 

The king replied, that he came upon business 
of importance, and that, if they did not instantly 
go and awaken the governor, they should all be 



260 HISTORY OF 

punished next morning. At last a Serjeant went 
and called up the governor. Ducker imagined 
that it might possibly be oue of the king's gene- 
rals ; the gates were opened, and the courier in- 
troduced into the governor's chamber. 

Ducker, who was still half asleep, asked him, 
* What news of the king of Sweden?' The king, 
taking him by the arm, 'What,' says he to Ducker, 
'have my most faithful subjects forgot me V The 
governor recollected the king, though he could 
not believe his own eyes ; and, jumping out of 
bed, em-braced his master's kt.ees with tears of 
icy. The nev/s of this happy event were spread 
through the town in a moment. Every body got 
up. Ihe soldiers flocked about the governor's 
house. The streets were crowded with people, 
asking each other whether the king was really 
come. All the windows were illuminated ; and 
the conduits ran with wine, amidst the blaze of 
a thousand flambeaus, and the repeated dis- 
charges of the artillery. 

Meanwhile the king was put to bed, which was 
more than he had been for sixteen days before. 
His legs were so much swollen with the great 
fatigue be had undergone, that, instead of pull- 
ing, they were obliged to cut off his boots. As 
he had neither linen nor clothes, they imme- 
diately furnished him with such a wardrobe as 
the town could afford. After he had slept a few 
hours, he rose and went directly to review his 
troops, and visit his fortifications ; and that very 
day he dispatched orders into all parts for renew- 
ing the war against his enemies with greater 
vigour than ever. All these particulars which are 
Eo consistent with the extraordinary character of 
Charles XII. were first communicated to me by 
M. Fabricius, and afterwards confirmed by count 
Croissy, ambassador to the king of Sweden. 



CHARLES XII. 261 

Europe was now in a condition very different 
from that in which it was when Charles left it, 
in 1709. 

The war, which had so long raged in the south, 
that is, in Germany, Kngland, Holland, France, 
Spain, Portugnl and Italy, was now at an end. 
The general peace which succeeded was owing 
to some private intrigues in the court of England. 
The earl of Oxford, an able minister, and lord 
Bolingbroke, one of the greatest geniuses, and 
one of the most eloquent orators of the age, had 
got the better of the duke of Marlborough, and 
prevailed upon the queen to make a peace with 
Lewis XIV. France, being no longer at war 
with England, soon obliged the other powers to 
come to an accommodation. 

Philip V. the grandson of Lewis XIV. began 
to reign in peace over the ruins of the Spanish 
monarchy. The emperor of Germany, now be- 
come master of Naples and Flanders, was firmly 
established in his vast dominions : and Lewis 
XIV. seemed to aim at nothing higher than to 
finish his long career of glory by a peaceable end. 

Anne, queen of England, died on the 10th of 
August, 1714, hated by half the nation, for having 
given peace to so many kingdoms. Her brother, 
James Stuart, an unhappy prince, excluded from 
the throne almost at his birth, not being in Eng- 
land at that time to claim the succession, which 
new laws would have conferred upon him, if his 
party could have prevailed ; George L elector 
of Hanover was unanimously acknowledged king 
of Great Britain. The throne devolved to that 
elector, not by right of blood, though descended 
from a daughter of James, but by virtue of an 
act of parliament. 

George, advanced in years when he was called 
to reign over a people whose language he did not 



268 HISTORY OF 

understand, and to whom he was an 
stranger, he considered himself rather as elector 
of Hanover than king of England. All his am- 
bition was to aggrandize bis German dominions. 
He commonly went once a year to visit his here- 
ditary subjects, by whom he was adored. In 
other respects, he took more pleasure in living 
like a private man, than like a mighty sovereign. 
The pomp of royalty appeared to him an insup- 
portable burden. He passed his time with a few 
old courtiers, with whom he lived in great fami- 
liarity. He was not the king that made the 
greatest figure in Europe ; but he was one of 
the wisest princes of the age, and perhaps the 
only one that knew how to enjoy on a throne 
the pleasures of friendship and private life. Such 
were the principal n)onarchs, and such the situa- 
tion of the south of Europe - 

The revolutions that happened in the North 
were of another nature. The kings in that part 
of the world were engaged in war, and leagued 
together against the king of Sweden. 

Augustus had been long restored to the throne 
of Poland by the assistance of the czar, and with 
the joint consent of the emperor of Germany, of 
Anne of England, and of the states-general, who, 
though guarantees of the treaty of Altranstad, 
when Charles Xll. was able to impose laws, 
thought themselves absolved from that obligation, 
when they had nothing more to fear from him. 

But Augustus did not enjoy an undisturbed 
authority. No sooner was he restored to the 
throne, than the people's apprehensions of arbi- 
trary power began to revive. 'I'he whole natiou 
was in arms to oblige him to conform to the pacta 
conveiita, a sacred contract between the king and 
people, who seemed to have recalled their sove- 
reign for no other purpose than to declare war 



CHARLES XII. 263 

against hira. In the beginning of these troubles, 
the name of Stanislaus was not once mentioned : 
his party seemed to be annihilated ; and the 
Poles retained no other remembrance of the 
king of Sweden than as of a torrent, which, in 
in the violence of its course, had occasioned a 
temporary change in the face of nature. 

Pultowa and the absence of Charles XII. had 
occasioned the fall not onlj of Stanislaus, but 
also of the ihike of Molstein, Charles's nephew, 
who had lately been despoiled of his dominions 
by the king of Denmark. The king of Swedea 
had a sincere regard for the father, and, of con- 
sequence, could not fail to be deeply aflfected 
with the misfortunes of the son : the rather, as, 
glory being the end ot all his actions, the fall of 
those, piinces, whom he had either made or re- 
stored, gave him as much pain as the loss of his 
own provinces. 

Every one was at liberty to enrich himself with 
the rums of Charles's forttipe. Frederick Wil- 
liam the new king of Prussia, who seemed to be 
as fond of war as his father had been of peace, 
was the first who put in for his share of the spoils. 
He seized Stetin and part of Pomerania, as an 
equivalent for four hundred thousand crowns 
which he had advanced to the czar and the king 
of Denmark. George, elector of Hanover, now 
become king of England, had likewise sequestered 
into his hands the duchy of Bremen and Verden, 
which the king of Denmark had assigned to him 
as a deposit for sixty thousand pistoles.* la 

* The English parliament afterwards granted a sum 
of money to complete the purchase ; and thaa Bremen 
and Verden were secured to the Honse of Hanover. This 
acqaisition may be considered as the first link of that 
political chain, by which Great Britain hath been dragged 
back and fast bound to the continent. 



264 HISTORY OF 

this manner were divided the spoils of Charles 
XII. and whoever possessed any of his domi- 
nioES as pledges, became iroiii iheir selfish and 
interested views, as duiigerous enemies as those 
who had taken ihem from liim. 

With regard to the czar, he was doubtless the 
most formidable of all his enemies. His former 
losses, his victories, his very faults, his unremitted 
perseverance in acquiring knowledge, and in 
communicating that knowledge to his subjects, 
and his incessant labours, had justly entitled him 
to the character of a great man. Kiga was al- 
ready taken ; Livonia, Ingria, Carelia, half of 
Finland, and all the provinces that had been con- 
quered by Charles's ancestors, were now sub- 
jected to the Russian yoke. 

Peter Alexiowitz, who, twenty years before.had 
not a single vessel in the Baltic, now saw himself 
master of those seas with a fleet of thirty ships 
of the line. 

One of these ships had.been built by his own 
Lands. He was the best carpenter, the best ad- 
miral, and the best pilot in the North. There 
was not a difficult passage from tbe gulf of Both- 
nia to the Ocean, which he had not sounded ; 
and, having thus joined the labours of the common 
sailor to the curious experiments of a philosopher, 
and the grand designs of an emperor, he arrived, 
by degrees and a course of victories, to the rank 
of admiral, in the same manner as he had be- 
come a general in the land service. 

While prince Galitzin, a general formed under 
his auspices, and one of those who seconded his 
enterprises with the greatest vigour,completedthe 
reduction of Finland, took the town of Vasa, and 
beat the Swedes, the emperor put to sea, in order 
to attempt the con(iuest of Aland, an island in the 
Baltic, about twelve leagues from Stockholm, 



CHARLES Xir. 265 

He set out on this expedition in the be^nning 
of July, 1714, while his rival Charles Xll. was 
keeping his bed at Demotica. He embarked at 
Crouslot, an harbour which lie had built a few 
years before, about four miles from Petersburg. 
The new harbour, the fleet, the officers, the 
sailors, were all the work of his own hands ; and, 
wherever he turned his eyes, he could behold 
nothing but what he himself had, in some measure, 
created. 

On the 15th of July, the Russian fleet, con- 
sisting of thirty ships of the line, eighty galleys, 
and a hundred half-galleys, reached the coast 
of Aland. On board of these ships were twenty 
thousand soldiers : admiral Apraxin was com- 
mander-in-chief; and the Kussian emperor 
served as rear-admiral. On the 16th the Swedish 
fleet, commanded by vice-admiral Erinchild.came 
ap with the enemy ; and, though weaker than 
them by two- thirds, maintained a fight for the 
space of three hours. The czar attacked the 
admiral's ship, and took her after a sharp en- 
gagement. 

The same day he landed sixteen thousand men 
on the isle of Aland ; and having taken a num- 
ber of Swedish soldiers, that had not been able 
to get on board of Erinchild's fleet, he carried 
them off in his own ships. He returned to his 
harbour of Cronslot, with Erinchild's large ship, 
three others of a less size, one frigate, and six 
galleys, all of which he had taken in this en- 
gagement. 

From Cronslot he set sail for Petersburg, fol- 
lowed by his own victorious fleet, and the ships 
he had taken from the enemy. On his arrival 
at Petersburg, he was saluted by a triple dis- 
charge of a hundred and fifty pieces of cannon. 
He then made a triumphant entry, which flattered 
M 



266 HISTORY OF 

his vanity still more than that at Moscow, as he 
received these honours in his favourite city, a 
place where but ten years before there was not a 
single hut, and where now there were thirty-four 
thousand five hundred houses ; in a word, as he 
saw himself at the head not only of a victorious 
navy but what is more, of the first Russian fleet 
that had ever appeared in the Baltic, and amidst 
the acclamations of a people, to whom, before 
his time, the very name of a fleet was not so 
much as known. 

The entry into Petersburg was accompanied 
with much the same ceremonies as that into 
Moscow. The Swedish vice-admiral was the 
chief ornament of this new trium ph. Peter Alex- 
iowitz appeared in the procession as rear-ad- 
miral. A Russian nobleman, called Romano- 
dowsky, who commonl, represented the czar 
on these solemn occasions, was seated on a 
throne, surrounded with senators. To this noble- 
man, the rear-admiral presented an account of 
his victory ; and, in reward of his services, was 
declared vice-admiral. An odd ceremony, but 
extremely necessary in a country where mili- 
tary subordination was one of the novelties which 
the czar wanted to introduce. 

The emperor of Russia, now victorious over 
the Swedes by sea and land, and having assisted 
in expelling them from Pol:ind, began to domi- 
neer there in his turn. He acted as mediator 
between Augustus and the republic ; a glory» 
perhaps, not inferior to that of creating a king. 
This honour, and, indeed, all the good fortune of 
Charles, had fallen to the share of the czar, who, 
it must be owned, made a better use of these ad- 
vantages ; for all his successes were so managed, 
as to contribute to ihe interest of his country. 
If he took a town, the best artizans in it carried 



CHARLES XII. 267 

their familieg and their industry to Petersburg. 
The manufactures, the arts and sciences of the 
provinces which he conquered fronn Sweden, were 
transported into Muscovy. Thus were his do- 
minions enriched by his victories ; a circum- 
stance that makes him the most excusable of all 
conquerors. 

Sweden, on the contrary, despoiled of almost 
all her foreign provinces, had neither commerce, 
money, nor credit. Her veteran troops, which 
were formerly so formidable, bad either fallen in 
battle, or perished with hunger. Upwards of a 
hundred thousand Swedes were slaves in the vast 
dominions of the czar ; and near the same num- 
ber had been sold to the Turks and Tartars. The 
human species seemed visibly to decline in the 
country ; but the kinj- s arrival at Stralsund in- 
spired them with fresh hopes. 

The respect and admiration which they had 
formerly entertained for his sacred person, were 
still so strongly rivetted in the minds of his sub- 
jects, that the youth came from the country iu 
crowds, and voluntarily offered to enlist, though 
there was not a sufficient number of hands left to 
cultivate the lands. 



BOOK VIII. 



Charles gives his sister in marriage to the prince of Hesse, 
is besieged in Stralsund, and escapes to Sweden. 
Schenaes of baron de Gortz liis prime minister. Plan 
of a reconciliation with the czar, and of a descent upon 
England. Charles besieges Fiedericshall, in Norway; 
is killed ; his character. Gortz is beheaded. 

TN the midst of these preparations, the king 

gave his only surviving sister, Ulrica Eleonora, 

in marriage to Frederic, prince of Hesse-Cassel. 

The queen-dowager, grandmother of Charles XII. 



268 HISTORY OF 

and the princess, and then in the eightieth year 
of her age, did the honours of the table at this 
solemnity, which was celebrated on the 4th of 
April, 1715, in the palace of Stockholm ; where 
she died soon after. 

The marriage was not honoured with the pre- 
sence of the king, who was then employed in 
finishing the fortifications of Stralsund, a place 
of great importance, and threatened with a siege 
by the kings of Prussia and Denmark. Never- 
theless he made his brother in-law generalissimo 
of all his foices in Sweden. 'Jliis prince had 
served the states-general in their wars with the 
French, and was esteemed a good general ; a 
qualification which contributed not a little to pro- 
cure him the sister of Charles XII. in marriage. 
Charles's misfortunes now came as thick upon 
him as his victories had formerly done. In the 
month of June, 1715, the German troops of the 
king of England, with those of Denmark, invested 
the strong town of Wismar, while the combined 
army of the Danes and Saxons, amounting to 
thirty- six thousand men, marched towards Stral- 
sund, to form the siege of that place. The kings 
of Prussia and Denmark sunk five Swedish ships 
a little off Stralsund. The czar was then in the 
Baltic, with twenty large ships of war, and a 
hundred and fifty transports, on board of which 
were thirty thousand men. He threatened a 
descent upon Sweden ; one while approaching 
the coast of Helsimburg, and at another appear- 
ing before Stockholm. Ail Sweden was in arms 
upon the coasts, and every moment expected an 
invasion. At the same time the czar's land forces 
drove the Swedes from post to post, until they 
had dispossessed them of all the places they held 
in Finland, towards the gulf of Bothnia. But 
Peter pushed his conquests no farther. 



CHARLES XII. 269 

At the mouth of the Oder, a river that divides 
Pomerania in two, and after washing the walls 
of Stetin falls into the Baltic, lies the little isle 
of Usedoni, a place of great importance on ac- 
count of its situation, commanding the Oder both 
on the right and left; so that whoever is master 
of the island is likewise master of the navigatioa 
of the river. The king of Prussia had dislodged 
the Swedes from this place, and taken possession 
of it as well as of Stetin, which he kept seques- 
tered, and all, as he pretended, ' For the sake of 
peace.' The Swedes had retaken L^sedom in 
May, 1715. They had two forts in the island ; 
one of which was the fort of Suine, upon the 
branch of the Oder, that bore the same name ; 
the other, a place of greater consequence, was 
called Pennamonder, and situated upon another 
branch of that river. To defend these two forts, 
and indeed the whole island, there were only 
two hundred and fifty Pomeranians, under the 
command of an old Swedish officer, called'Kuze 
Slerp, a man whose name deserves to be immor- 
talized. 

On the 4th of August, the king of Prussia sent 
fifteen hundred foot and eight hundred dragoons 
to make a descent upon the island. They came 
and landed without opposition near the fort of 
Suine, which being the least important of the 
two, the Swedish commander abandoned it to the 
enemy ; and as he could not safely divide his 
men, he retired with his little company to the 
castle of Pennamonder, determined to bold out 
to the last extremity. 

There was therefore a necessity of besieging it 
in form ; for which jmrpose a train of artillery 
was embarked at Stetin, and the Prussian troops 
were reinforced witii a thousand foot and four 
hundred horse. On the eighteenth the trenches 



270 HISTORY OF 

were opened in two places, and the foTt was 
briskly battered with cannon and mortars. Dur- 
ing the siege, a Swedish soldier, who was sent 
privately with a letter from Charles XII. found 
means to land on the island, and to slip into the 
fort. The letter he delivered to the commander. 
The purport was as follows : — ' Do not fire till 
the enemy come to the brink of the fosse. De- 
fend the place to the last extremity. I commend 
you to your good fortune. Charles.' 

Slerp, having read the note, resolvea to obey, 
and to lay down his life, as he was ordered, for 
the service of his master. On the 22d at day- 
break the assault was given. The besieged, 
having kept in their fire till they saw the enemy 
on the brink of the fosse, killed an immense num- 
ber of them. But the ditch was full, the breach 
large, and the assailants too numerous ; so that 
they entered the castle at two different places at 
once. The commander now thought of nothing 
but oftselling his life dear, and obeying his mas- 
ter's orders. He abandoned the breaches through 
which the enemy entered ;. intrenched his little 
company, who had all ihe courage and fidelity 
to follow him behind a bastion, and posted them 
in such a manner that they could not be sur- 
rounded. The enemy came up to him, and were 
greatly surprised that he did not ask for quarter. 
He fought for a complete hour ; and, after having 
lost the half of his men, was at last killed him- 
self, together with his lieutenant and major. 
Upon this the surviving few, amounting to a hun- 
dred soldiers, and one officer, begged their lives, 
and were made prisoners of war. Charles's let- 
ter was found in the commander's pocket, and 
carried to the king of Prussia. 

At the time that Charles lost Usedom, and the 
neighbouring isles, which were quickly taken ; 



CHARLES XII. 271 

while Wismar was ready to surrender, and 
Sweden, destitute of a fleet, was daily threatened 
with an invasion, he himself was in Stralsund, 
besieged with an army of thirty six thousandmen. 

Stralsund, a town famous over all Europe for 
the siege which the king of Sweden sustained 
there, is the strongest place in Pomerania ; and 
is situated between the Baltic and the lake of 
Franken, near the streights of Gella. It is inac- 
cessible by land, except by a narrow causeway, 
defended by a citadel, and by fortifications which 
were thought to be impregnable. There was in 
it a garrison of about nine thousand men, and 
what was more than all, the king of Sweden him- 
self. The kings of Prussia and Denmark under- 
took the siege of this place, with an army of six 
and thirty thousand men, composed of Prussians^ 
Danes, and Saxons. 

The honour of besieging Charles XII. was so 
powerful a motive, that they soon surmounted 
every obstacle, and opened the trenches in the 
night between the 19th and !^Oth of October, 
1715. The king of Sweden declared, at the be- 
ginning of the siege, that, for his own part, he 
could not comprehend, how a place well fortified, 
and provided with a sufficient garrison, could 
possibly be taken ; not but that in the course of 
his past victories he had taken several places 
himself, but hardly ever by a regular siege. The 
terror of his arms carried all before it : besides, 
he never judged of other people by himself ; but 
always entertained too low an opinion of his 
enemies. 'Jhe besiegers carried on their works 
with surprising vigour and resolution, and were 
greatly assisted by a very singular accident. 

It is well known that the Baltic Sea neither 
ebbs nor flows. The fortifications which covered 
the town, and which were defended on the west 



272 HISTORY OF 

by an impassable morass, and by the sea on tbe 
east, seemed to be secure from any assault. It 
bad hitherto escaped the observation of every 
one, that when the west wind blows strong, the 
waves of the Baltic are driven back in such a 
manner as to leave but three feet depth of water 
under the fortifications, which had always been 
supposed to be washed by a branch of the sea, 
so deep as to be utterly impassable. A soldier, 
having fallen from the top of the fortifications 
into the sea, was surprised to find a bottom ; 
and, thinking that this discovery might make his 
fortune, he deserted, and went to the quarters of 
count Wackerbath, the Saxon general, to inform 
him that the sea was fordable, and that he might 
easily penetrate to the Swedish fortifications. It 
was not long before the king of Prussia availed 
himself of this piece of intelligence. 

Next night, about twelve o'clock, the west wind 
still continuing to blow, lieutenant colonel Kop- 
pen entered ihe water with eighteen hundred 
men. At the same time two thousand advanced 
upon the causeway that led to the fort ; all the 
Prussian artillery fired, and the Danes and Prus- 
sians gave an alarm on the other side. 

The Swedes thought they could easily repulse 
the two thousand men whom they saw advancing 
with so much apparent rashness upon the cause- 
way; but all of a sudden, Koppen, with his 
eighteen hundred men, entered the fort on the 
side towards the sea. The Swedes, surrounded 
and surprised, could make no resistance ; and the 
post was carried after a terrible slaughter. Some 
of the Swedes fled to the town ; the besiegers 
pursued them thither, and entered pell mell along 
with the fugitives. Two officers and four Saxon 
soldiers were already on the draw-bridge, which 
the Swedes had just time to raise; so that the 



CHARLES XII. 273 

men were taken, and the town saved for that 
time. 

There were found in the fort twenty-four pieces 
ofcannon, which were immediately turned against 
Stralsund. The siege was pushed with such vi- 
gour and resolution as this success could not fail 
to inspire. The town was cannonaded and bom- 
barded without intermission. 

Opposite to Stralsund, in the Baltic Sea, lies 
the isle of Rugen, which serves as a bulwark to 
that place, and into which the garrison and citi- 
zens might have retired, could they have found 
boats to transport them thither. This island was 
of the last importance to Chacles. He plainly 
perceived, that should it fall into the hands of the 
enemy, he would be immediately besieged both 
by sea and land, and perhaps reduced to so great 
extremities, that he must either bury himself in 
the ruins of iStralsund, or else become a prisoner 
to those very enemies whom he had so long de- 
spised, and upon whom he had imposed the most 
severe and rigorous terms. But, notwithstanding 
these gloomy prospects, such was the wretched 
situation of his affairs, that he had not been able 
to place a sufficient garrison in Rugen, where, in 
effect, there were no more than two thousand men. 

His enemies had been employed for three 
months past in making all the necessary prepa- 
rations for a desct nt upon this island ; and hav- 
ing at last finished a great number of boats, the 
prince of Anhalt, favoured by the goodness of 
the weather, landed twelve thousand men upon 
Rugen. on the loth of November. The king, 
who seemed to be every where present, was then 
in the island, having lately joined his two thoU' 
sand men, who were intrenched near a small 
harbour, three leagues from the place where the 
oiemy had landed. He put himself at the head 
M 2 



874 HISTORY OF 

of this little troop, and, observing the most pro- 
found silence, advanced at midnight towards the 
foe. The prince of Anhalt had already intrenched 
his forces, a precaution which seemed altogether 
unnecessary. The inferior officers never dreamed 
of being attacked the very first night, as they 
imagined Charles to be at Stralsund; but the 
prince of Anhalt, who well knew what incredible 
things Charles was capable of attempting, had 
caused a deep fosse to be sunk, fenced with che- 
vaux de frise ; and indeed took all his measures 
with as much circumspection, as if he had had 
a superior army to contend with. 

At two in the morning Charles reached the 
enemy's camp without making the least noise. 
His soldiers said to each other— 'Come, let U3 
pull up the chevaux de frise.' These words being 
overheard by the centinels, the alarm was in- 
stantly given in the camp, and the enemy stood 
to their arms. The king, taking up the chevaux 
de frise, perceived a deep ditch before him. ' Ah 1* 
says he, ' is it possible 1 this is more than I ex- 
pected.' However, this unexpected event did not 
disconcert him. He was alike ignorant of the 
number of the enemy, and they of his. The dark- 
ness of the night seemed, to favour the boldness 
of the attempt. He formed his resolution in a 
moment, and jumped into the ditch, accompanied 
by the bravest of his men, and instantly followed 
by all the rest. The chevaux de frise, which were 
presently plucked up, the levelled earth, the trunks 
and branches of such trees as they could find, and 
the carcases of the soldiers that were killed by 
random shot, served for fascines. The king, the 
generals, and the bravest of the officers and sol- 
diers, mounted upon the shoulders of others, as in 
an assault. The fight began in the enemy's camp. 
The irresistible impetuosity of the Swedes soon 



CHARLES XII. 275 

threw the Danes and Prussians into confusion j 
but the numbers were too unequally matched. 
After a keen diipute for a quarter of an hour, the 
Swedes were repulsed, and obliged to repass the 
fosse. The prince of Anhalt pursued them into 
the plain, liclle thinking it was Charles XII, that 
fled before him. The unhappy monarch rallied 
bis troops in the open field, and the battle was re- 
newed with equal fury on both sides. Groihusen, 
the king's favourite, and general DardofF, fell 
dead at his feet. In the heat of ihe fight Charles 
passed over the body of the latter, who was still 
breathing ; and During, who had accompanied 
bim in his journey from Turkey to Stralsund, was 
killed before his face. 

In the midst of the fray, a Danish lieutenant, 
•whose name I have not been able to learn, knew 
the king ; and seizing his sword with one hand, 
and with the other dragging him by the hair — ■ 
* Surrender yourself,' said he, ' or you are a dead 
man.' The king drew a pistol from his belt, and, 
with his left hand, fired at the officer, who died 
of the wound the next morning. The name of 
king Charles, which the Dane had pronounced, 
immediately drew a crowd of the enemy together. 
The king was surrounded, and received a musket 
shot below his left breast. The wound, which he 
called a contusion, was two fingers deep. Charles 
was on foot, and in the most imminent danger of 
being killed or taken prisoner. At that critical 
moment count Pouiatowsky fought near his ma- 
jesty's person : he had saved his life at Pultowa, 
and had now the good fortune to save it once more 
in the battle of Rugen, by putting him on his horse. 

The Swedes retired to a part of the island called 
Alteferra, where there was a fort, of which they 
were still masters. From thence the king passed 
over to Stralsund, obliged to abandon bis brave 



976 HISTORY OF 

troops who had so courageously assisted him in 
this daring enterprise, and who two days after 
were all made prisoners of wa-r. 

Among the prisoners was that unhappy French 
regiment, composed of the shattered remains of 
the battle of Hochstet, which had entered into the 
service of Augustus, and afterwards into that of 
the king of Sweden. Most of the soldiers were 
now incorporated in anew regiment, commanded 
by the prince of Anhalt's son, who was their 
fourth master. 

The commander of this wandering regiment ia 
the isle of Rugen, was the same count de Ville- 
longue who had so nobly exposed his life at Adri- 
anople to serve king Charles XII. He was taken 
prisoner with his men, and but poorly rewarded 
in the sequel for all his services, labours, and suf- 
ferings. 

After all these prodigies of valour, which tend- 
ed only to weaken his forces, the king, shut up ia 
Stralsuud, which was every moment in danger of 
being stormed, behaved in much the same man- 
ner as he had done at Bender. Unappalled by so 
many surrounding dangers, he emplo}'ed the day 
in making ditches and intrenchments behind the 
walls, and by night he sallied out upon the enemy. 
Meanwhile Siralsund was battered m breach : ths 
bombs fell thick as hail upon the houses, and half 
the town was reduced to ashes. The citizens were 
80 far from complaining, that, filled with the high- 
est veneration for their royal master, whose vigi- 
lance, temperance, and courage, they could not 
sufficiently admire, they were all become soldiers 
under him. They accompanied him in all his sal- 
lies, and served him in place of a second garrison. 

One day as the king was dictating some letters 
to his secretary that were to be sent to Sweden, a 
bomb fell ou the house, pierced the roof, and 



CHARLES XII. 277 

burst near the royal apartment. One half of the 
floor was shattered to pieces ; but the closet in 
which the king was, being partly surrounded by 
a thick wall, received no damage ; and, what was 
remarkably fortunate, none of the splinters that 
flew about in the air, came in at the closet door, 
which happened to be open. The report of the 
bomb, and the crashing noise it occasioned in the 
house, which seemed ready to tumble about their 
ears, made the secretary drop his pen. — ' What 
is the reason,' says the king, with great composure, 
' that you do not write V 1 he poor secretary could 
only bring out with a faultering voice, ' The bomb, 
sir.' — ' Well,' replies the king, ' and what Las 
the bomb to do with the letter I am dictating 1 
Go on.' 

There was, at that time, an ambassador of 
France shut up with Charles in Stralsund. This 
was one Colbert, count de Croissy, a lieutenant- 
general in the French army, brother to the mar- 
quis de Torcy, the famous minister of state, and 
a relation of the celebrated Colbert, whose name 
ought never to be forgotten in France. To send 
a man on an embassy to Charles XII. or into 
trenches, was much the same. The king would 
talk with Croissy for hours together in places of 
the greatest danger, while the soldiers were fall- 
ing on every side of them by the fire of the bombs 
and cannon : Charles, in all appearance insensible 
of the risk he run, and the ambassador not choos- 
ing to give his majesty so much as a hint that there 
•were more places to talk of business. This mi- 
nister exerted his utmost efforts, before the siege 
commenced, to effect an accommodation between 
the kings of Sweden and Prussia ; but the de- 
mands of the latter were too high, and the former 
would make no concessions. So that the count 
de Crobsy derived no other advantage from his 



278 HISTORY OF 

embassy to Charles XII. tlian the pleasure of being 
intimately acquainted with that extraordinary 
man. He frequently lay by his majesty upon the 
same cloak ; and, by sharing with him in all his 
dangers and fatigues, had acquired a right of talk- 
ing to him with greater freedom. Charles en- 
couraged this boldness in those he loved ; and 
would sometimes say to the count de Croissy, 
Veni, maledicamns de rege: 'Come, now let us 
make a little free with the character of Charles 
XII.' This account I had from the ambassador 
himself. 

Croissy continued in the town till the 13th of 
November, when, having obtained from the enemy 
a passport for himself and his baggage, he took 
his leave of the king, who still remain^'d amidst 
the ruins of Stralsund, with a garrison diminished 
by one half, but firmly resolved to stand an assault. 

And two days after, an assault was actually 
made upon the horn-work. Twice did the enemy 
take it, and twice were they repulsed. In this 
rencounter the king fought amidst his grenadiers j 
but at last superior numbers prevailed, and the 
enemy remained masters of the place. Charles 
continued in the town two days after this, expect- 
ing every moment a general assault. On the 21st 
he staid till midnight upon a little ravelin that 
was entirely demolished by the bombs and cannon. 
Next day the principal officers conjured him to 
quit a place which he could no longer defend : but 
to retreat was now become as dangerous as to stay. 
The Baltic was covered with Russian and Danish 
ships. There were no vessels in the harbour of 
Stralsund, but one small bark with sails and oars. 
The great danger which rendered this retreat so 
glorious, was the very thing that prompted Charles 
to attempt it. He embarked at midnight on the 
20th of December^ 1715, accompanied by ten 



CHARLES XTI. 279 

persons only. They were obliged to break the 
ice with which the water of the harbour was 
covered ; a hard and laborious task, which they 
were forced to continue for several hours before 
the bark could sail freely. The enemy's admirals 
had strict orders not to allow Charles to escape 
from Straisund, but to take him, dead or alive. 
Happily for him they were under wind and could 
not come near him. He ran a still greater risk in 
passing by a place called la Babetie, in the isle 
*of Rugen, where the Danes had erected a battery 
of twelve cannon, from which they fired upon him. 
The mariners spread every sail and plyed every 
oar in order to get clear of the enemy : but two 
men were killed at the king's side by one cannon 
ball, and the ship's mast was shattered by another. 
Through all these dangers, however, did the king 
escape unhurt, and at last came up with two of 
his own ships that were cruising in the Baltic. 
Next day Straisund was surrendered, and the 
garrison made prisoners of war. Charles landed 
at Isled in Scania, and forthwith repaired to 
Carlscroon, in a condition very different from 
what he was in, when, about fifteen years be- 
fore, he set sail from that harbour in a ship of a 
hundred and twenty guns, to give laws to the 
North. 

As he was so near his capital, it was expected 
that, after so long an absence, he would pay it a 
visit ; but he was determined not to enter it agaia 
till he had obtained some signal victory. Besides, 
he could not bear the thoughts of revisiting a peo- 
ple by whom he was beloved, and whom never- 
theless he was obliged to oppress, in order to 
enable him to make head against his enemies. He 
wanted only to see his sister, with whom he ap- 
pointed an interview on the banks of the lake 
Weter, in Ostrogothia, Thither he rode post» 



280 HISTORY OF 

attended only by one servant ; and, after having 
spent a day with her, returned to Carlscroon. 

From this place, where he passed the winter, he 
issued out orders for raising recruits through the 
whole kingdom. He thought that his subjects 
were born for no other purpose than to follow him 
to the field of battle, and he had actually accus- 
tomed them to entertain the same opinion. Some 
were enlisted who were not above fifteen years 
of age. In several villages there were none left 
but old men, women, and children ; and in many 
places the women were obliged to plough the 
land alone. 

It was still more difficult to procure a fleet. In 
order to supply that defect as well as possible, 
commissions were granted to the owners of pri- 
vateers, who, upon obtaining certain privileges, 
unreasonable in themselves, and destructive to 
the community, equipped a few ships ; and these 
poor efforts were the last that the declining state 
of Sweden was now capable of making. To de- 
fray the expenses of all these preparations, there 
was a necessity for encroaching upon the pro- 
perty of the subject ; and every kind of extortion 
was practised under the specious name of taxes 
and duties. Strict search was made into every 
house, and one half of the provisions that were 
found in them was conveyed to the king's maga- 
zines. All the iron in the kingdom was bought 
up for his use : this the government paid for in 
paper, and sold it out for ready money. A tax 
was laid on all such as had any mixture of silk 
in their clothes, or wore periwigs or gilded swords ; 
and the duty of hearth-money was immoderately 
high. The people, oppressed with such a load 
of taxes, would have revolted under any other 
king ; but the poorest peasant in Sweden knew 
that his master led a life still more hard and 



CHARLES XII. 281 

frugal than himself : so that every one submitted 
cheerfully to those hardships which the king waa 
the lirst to suffer. 

All sense of private misfortunes was swallowed 
up in the apprehension of public danger. The 
Swedes expected every moment to see their 
country invaded by the Russians, the Danes, the 
Prussians, the Saxons, and even by the English ; 
and the fear of this hostile visit was so strong 
and prevalent, that those who had money or 
valuable effects, took care to bury them in the 
earth. 

An English fleet had already appeared in the 
Baltic, though its particular destination was not 
known ; and the czar had given his word to the 
king of Denmark, that in the spring of 1716, the 
Russians should join the Danes, in order to 
make a descent upon Sweden. 

But how great was the astonishment of all 
Europe, ever attentive to the fortune of Charles 
XIL, when instead of defending his own country, 
which was threatened with an invasion by so 
many princes, they saw him, in the month of 
March, 1716, passing over into Norway, with 
twenty thousand men. 

From the time of Hannibal to that of Charles 
XII. the world had never seen any general who, 
unable to make head against his enemies at 
home, had boldly carried the war into the heart 
of their own dominions. 

The prince of Hesse, his brother-in-law, at- 
tended him in this expedition. 

There is no travelling from Sweden to Norway 
but through the most dangerous by-ways ; and, 
when these are past, one meets with so many 
flashes of water formed by the sea amongst the 
rocks, that there is a necessity for making bridges 
every day. A handful of Danes might have 



982 HISTORY OF 

stopped the progress of the whole Swedish army; 
but this sudden invasion had not been foreseen, 
Europe was still more astonished to see the czar, 
amidst all these mighty events, remaining in- 
active, and not making a descent upon Sweden, 
as had formerly been stipulated between him 
and his allies. 

This inactivity was owing to one of the greatest 
and roost difficult schemes that ever was formed 
bj the mind of man. 

Henry de Gortz, a native of Franconia, and 
Baron of the empire, having done sevesal good 
offices to the king of Sweden, during that mon- 
arch's abode at Bender, was now become his 
favourite, and first minister. 

Never man was at once so bold and so artful 9 
so full of expedients amidst misfortunes ; so un- 
bounded in his designs, or so active in the pro- 
secution of them. No project too great for his 
daring genius to attempt ; no means 100 difficult 
for his sagacity and penetration to discover ; in 
pursuing his favourite schemes he was equally- 
prodigal of presents and promises, of oaths, of 
truth and of falsehood. 

From Sweden he went to France, England, and 
Holland, to examine those secret springs which 
he afterwards meant to put in motion. He was 
capable of throwing all Europe into combustion; 
and his inclination was equal to his power. What 
his master was at the head of an army, that was 
de Gortz in the cabinet ; by which means he 
had acquired a greater ascendant over Charles 
Xn. than any minister before him had ever pos- 
sessed. 

Charles, who at twenty years of age had pre- 
scribed orders to count Piper, was now content 
to receive instructions from baron de Gortz, re- 
signing himself to the direction of that minister 



CHARLES XII. 283 

•vith so mucb the less reserve, as his misfortunes 
obliged him to listen to the advice of others, and 
as Gortz never gave him any but such as was 
suitable to his undaunted courage. He observed, 
that of all the sovereigns united against Sweden, 
George, elector of Hanover, and king of England, 
was the prince against whom Charles was most 
highly incensed ; because he was the only one to 
whom he had ever done the least injury ; and be» 
cause George had engaged in the quarrel under 
the pretext of compromising matters, but in re- 
ality with a view of preserving Bremen and Ver- 
den, to which he seemed to have no other right 
than that of having bought them for a trifle from 
the king of Denmark, to whom after all, they did 
not belong. 

Nor was it long before he discovered that the 
czar was secretly dissatisfied with his allies, who 
bad all conspired to hinder him from acquiring 
any possessions in Germany, where that monarch, 
already become too formidable, wanted only to 
obtain a footing. Wismar, the only town that 
stili remained to the Swedes on the frontiers of 
Germany, was, on the 14th of February, 1716, 
surrendered to the Danes and Prussians, who 
would not so much as allow the Russian troops 
that were in Mecklenburgh to be present at the 
siege. Such repeated marks of jealousy for two 
years together, had alienated the czar's mind from 
thecommon cause, and perhaps prevented the ruin 
of Sweden. There are many instances of several 
states in alliance being conquered by a single 
power ; but hardly any of a great empire subdued 
by several allies. If it should happen to be 
bumbled by their joint efforts, their intestine 
divisions soon allow it to retrieve its former 
grandeur. 

Ever since the year 1714, the czar had had it 



«84 HISTORY OF 

in his power to make a descent upon Swedes^ 
but whether it was that he could not perfectly 
agree with the kings of Poland, England, Den- 
mark, and Prussia, allies justly jealous of hia 
growing power, or that he did not as yet think 
his troops sufficiently disciplined to attack in 
their own territories a people whose very peasants 
had beat the flower of the Danish forces, he still 
put off the execution of the enterprise. 

But what had chiefly interrupted the progress 
of his arms was the want of money. The czar^ 
though one of the most powerful monarchs in the 
universe, was far from being one of the richest , 
his revenues, at that time, not exceeding twenty- 
four millions of livres. He had discovered in- 
deed some mines of gold, silver, copper, and iron j 
but the profits arising from these was still un- 
certain, and the expense of the working them 
was intolerably greats He had likewise estab- 
lished an extensive commerce ; but that in its 
infancy rather filled him with the agreeable hopes 
of what it might one day prove, than was really 
productive of any present advantage : nor did the 
provinces which he had lately conquered increase 
his revenues, in the same proportion as they 
augmented his power and glory. It required a 
Jong time to heal the wounds of Livonia, a country 
extremely fertile, but desolated by fire, sword, 
and distemper, and by a war of fifteen years' con- 
tinuance, destitute of inhabitants, and as yet 
chargeable to the conqueror. His finances were 
further drained by the large fleets he maintained, 
and by the new enterprises which he was daily 
undertaking. He had ever been reduced to the 
wretched expedient of raising the value of money, 
a remedy that can never cure the evils of a state, 
and is in a particular manner prejudicial to a 
country, whose exports fall short of their in^ports. 



CHARLES XII. 285 

Such was the foundation upon which de Gortz 
had built his scheme of a revolution. He ven- 
tured to advise the king of Sweden to purchase 
a peace from the Russian emperor at any price, 
intimating to him, at the same time, that the 
czar was highly incensed at the kings of Poland 
and England, and assuring him that he and Peter 
Alexiowitz, when joined together, would be able 
to strike terror into the rest of Europe. 

There was no possibility of making a peace 
with the czar, without giving up a great many of 
those provinc-38 which lie to the east and north 
of the Baltic Sea. But Gortz entreated the king 
to consider, that by yelding up these provinces, 
which t'he czar already possessed, and which 
Charles at present was unable to recover, he 
miglit have the honour of restoring Stanislaus to 
Hie throne of Poland, of replacing the sgn of 
James II. on that of England, and of re-esta- 
blishing the duke of Holsteia in the peaceable 
possession of his dominions. 

Charles, pleased with these mighty projects, 
upon which, however, he laid no great stress, 
gave carte blanche to his minister. Gortz set 
out from Sweden furnished with full powers to 
act without control, and to treat as his master's 
plenipotentiary with all those princes with whom 
he should think proper to negotiate. The first 
step was to sound the court of Moscow, which 
he did by means of a Scotchman, called Areskine, 
first physician to the czar, and strongly attached 
to the pretender's interest, as indeed most of the 
Scots were, except siich as subsisted upon favours 
from the court of London.* 

• The Scottiah nation will not thank M. de Voltaire 
for this assertion, which is by no means coDBistent with 
troth. Were it necessary it might be easily proved, that 



286 HISTORY OF 

This physician represented to prince Menzikoff 
the greatness and importance of the scheme, with 
all the warmth of a man who was so much in- 
terested in its success. Prince MenzikofF relished 
the proposal, and the czar approved of it. In- 
stead of making a descent upon Sweden, as had 
been stipulated between him and his allies, he 
sent his troops to winter in Mecklenburgh, whitheir 
he soon after repaired himself. This he did un- 
der the specious pretext of terminating some 
disputes that had lately arisen between the duke 
and his nobility ; but in reality with a view t© 
prosecute his favourite scheme of obtaining a 
principality in Germany, and hoping he should 
be able to persuade the duke of Mecklenburgh to 
sell him his sovereignty. 

The allies were highly provoked at these pro- 
ceedings : and the more so, as they did not 
choose to have such a formidable neighbour as 
Peter Alexiowitz, who, could he onee obtain any 
footing in Germany, might one day procure him- 
self to be elected emperor ,^ to the great oppression 
of all the princes of the empire. But the more 
they were provoked, the more was the grand 
scheme of de Gortz forwarded. This minister, 
the better to cenceal bis secret intrigues, affect- 
ed to negotiate with the confederate princes^ 
who were likewise amused witbvain hopes from 
the czar. 

Charles XII. and his brother-in-law, the prmc© 
of Hesse, were all this while in Norway, at the 
head of twenty thousand men. The country wa» 
defended by no more than eleven thousand Danes^ 
divided into several detached parties, who were 
all put to the sword by the king and the prince of 
Hesse. 

the whig party has greatly preponderated in Scotland^ 
ever since the union. 



CHARLES XII. 287 

Charles advanced towards Christiana, the 
capital of the kingdom ; and fortune began once 
more to smile upon him in this part of the globe. 
But he never took sufficient care to provide for 
the subsistence of his troops. A Danish fleet 
and army were coming to the relief of Norway ; 
and Charles, being in want of provisions, was 
obliged to return to Sweden, there to wait the 
issue of his minister's mighty projects. 

The execution of the scheme required at once 
inviolable secrecy, and vast preparations — two 
things almost incompatible. Gortz even ran- 
sacked the Asiatic seas for an assistance, which, 
however odious in appearance, would neverthe- 
less have been extremely proper for making a 
descent upon Scotland, and for furnishing Swe- 
den with ships, men, and money. 

The pirates of all nations, and especially those 
of England, having entered into a mutual associ- 
ation, had long infested the seas of Europe and 
America. Driven at last from their wonted 
haunts, and having no hopes of obtaining any 
quarter, they had lately retired to the coast of 
Madagascar, a large island on the east of Africa. 
These men were all desperadoes, and most of 
them famous for actions which wanted nothing 
but justice to render them truly heroic. They 
were endeavouring to find out a prince that would 
receive them under his protection ; but the laws 
of nations shut all the harbours in the world 
against them. 

No sooner were they informed that Charles 
XII. was returned to Sweden, than they began 
to flatter themselves with the agreeable hopes, 
that that prince, passionately fond of war, obliged 
at present to be engaged in it, and in great want 
as well of ships as soldiers, would be glad to 
make an agreement with them upon reasonable 



288 HISTORY OF 

terms. With this view they sent a deputy to 
Europe oa board of a Dutch vessel, to make a 
proposal to baron de Gortz, that if they were 
sure of meeting with a favourable reception ia 
the port of Gottenburg, they would instantly re- 
pair there with sixty ships loaded with riches.* 

The baron prevailed upon the king to agree to 
the proposal ; and next year Cromston and Men- 
dal, two Swedish gentlemen, were sent to finish 
the treaty with the corsairs of Madagascar. 

But a more honourable and a more powerful 
support was soon after found in cardinal Alberoni, 
a man of an extraordinary genius, who governed 
Spain long enough for his own glory, but tooshort 
a time for the grandeur and happiness of the 
kingdom. 

He readily embraced the proposal of placing 
the son of James II. on the throne of England. 
Nevertheless, as he was but just entered into the 
ministry, and had the affairs of Spain to regulate 
before he could think of throwing other kingdoms 
into confusion, it was not likely that he would 
be able for a considerable time to put this grand 
machine in motion. But in less than two years 
he changed the face of affairs in Spain, restored 
that kingdom to her former degree of credit 
among the other powers of Europe, prevailed 
upon the Turks, as is commonly supposed, to at- 
tack the emperor of Germany, and attempted, at 
one and the same time, to deprive the duke of 

• This has so much the air of a fable, that we know not 
how to believe it. True it is., a few pirates fixed their ha- 
bitation on the island of Madagascar; but they lived 
miserably, single, and separate, like wild beasts in a state 
of nature, without plan, subordination, or society, with- 
out force or shipping ; for what ships they had taken 
either perished, rotted, or were broken up by their ovm 
himds. 



CHARLES Xn. 289 

Orieains of the regency of France, and king 
George of the crown of England. So dangerous 
may one single man prove, when he is vested 
with absolute authority in a powerful state, and 
is endowed with courage and greatnua's of soul. 

Gortz having thus scattered in the conrts of 
Muscovy and Spain the first sparks of that riame 
which he intended to kindle, went privately to 
France, and from thence to Holland, where he 
had an interview with some of the pretender's 
adherents. 

He informed himself more particularly of the 
strength, the number, and disposition of the mal- 
contents in England, of the money they could 
furnish, and the troops they could raise. The 
malcontents required only a reinforcement of ten 
thous3»<H men, with whose assistance, they said, 
thej should be fully able to effectuate a revolution. 

Count Gillembourg, the Swedish ambassador 
in England, being furnished with proper instruc- 
tions by baron de Gortz, had several conferences 
at London with the chiefs of the disaffected 
party. He encouraged them with the most flatter- 
ing hopes of success, and readily promised them 
whatever they could wish to obtain ; and they, 
on their part, were so forward as to furnish con- 
siderable sums of money, which Gortz received 
iu Holland. He treated about the purchase of 
some ships, and bought six in Britain, with alt 
kinds of arms. 

He then sent several officers privately into 
France, and among others the chevalier de Folard, 
who having made thirty campaigns in the French 
armies, without any considerable addition to his 
fortune, had lately offered his service to the king 
of Sweden : not so much from any interested 
views, as from a desire of serving under a king 
of such a ijlorious reputation. Folard likewisa 
N 



290 HISTORY OF 

hoped to recommend to that prince the improve- 
ment he had made in the art of war, which he 
always studied as a philosopher ; and he has 
eince published his discoveries in his commen- 
tary on Polybius. Charles XII. who had made 
war himself in a manner entirely new, and was 
never guided by custom in any thing, was pleas- 
ed with his notions, and resolved to employ him 
in his projected invasion of Scotland. The secret 
orders of baron de Gortz were faithfully execut- 
ed in France, by the chevalier de Folard. A 
great number of French, and a still greater num- 
ber of Irish officers engaged in this uncommon 
conspiracy, which was hatching at one and the 
same time in England, France, and Muscovy, 
and the branches of which were secretly extend- 
ed from one end of Europe to the other. 

These preparations, however great, were only 
a sample of what de Gortz intended to do ; 
though it was a matter of no small consequence 
to have thus set the scheme a going. But the 
point of the greatest importance, and without 
which nothing could succeed, was to bring about 
a peace between the czar and Charles ; to accom- 
plish which, many difficulties were to be lemoved. 
Baron Osterman, minister of state in Muscovy, 
refused at first to come into de Gortz's measures : 
the former was as cautious and circumspect as 
the latter was bold and enterprising. The one 
slow and regular in his politics, was for allowing 
every thing time to ripen ; the other of a daring 
genius, and impatient spirit, had no sooner sown 
the seed than he was presently for reaping the 
harvest. Osterman fearing that the emperor, his 
master, dazzled with the splendour of this en- 
terprise, would grant the Swedes a too advan- 
tageous peace, delayed the conclusion of it by a 
variety of obstacles and procastinations. 



CHARLES XII. 291 

Happily for baron de Gortz, the cirfir himself 
came to Holland in the beginning of the year 
1717. His intention was to go from thence into 
France. He was desirous of seeing that famous 
nation, which, for more than a hundred years 
past, hath been censured, envied, and imitated by 
all its neighbours. He wanted to gratify his in- 
satiable curiosity of seeing and learning every 
thing, and, at the same time, to exercise his 
politics. 

Gortz had two interviews with him at the 
Hague ; and in these he made greater progress 
than he could have done in six months with the 
plenipotentiaries. Every thing wore a favourable 
aspect. His mighty projects seemed to be covered 
under the veil of impenetrable secrecy ; and he 
flattered himself that Europe would know them 
only by their being carried into execution. Mean- 
while he talked of nothing but peace .it the 
Hague, he openly declared that he would always 
consider the king of England as the pacifier of 
the North ; and he even pressed (in appearance 
at least) the holding a congress at Brunswick, in 
which the jarring interests of Sweden and her 
enemies, might be amicably adjusted. 

These intrigues were first discovered by the 
duke of Orleans, regent of France, who had spies 
in every part of Europe. Men of this character, 
who made a trade of selling the secrets of their 
friends, and get their livelihood by being infor- 
mers, and frequently by inventing and propagat- 
ing the grosest lies and calumnies, were so much 
increased in France under his government, that 
one half of the nation were become spies upon 
the other. The duke of Orleans, who was con- 
nected with the king of England by personal ties, 
acquainted him with the secret plot that was 
hatching against him. 



292 HISTORY OF 

At the same time the Dutch, who began to 
take umbrage at the behaviour of Gortz, comma- 
nicated their suspicions to the English minister 
Gortz and Gillembourg were prosecuting their 
Bchemes with great vigour, when they were both 
arrested ; the one at Daventer, in Guelderland, 
and the other at London. 

As Gillembourg, the Swedish ambassador, had 
violated the law of nations, by conspiring against 
the prince to whom he was sent in a public cha- 
racter, the English made no scruple to violate 
the same law by arresting his person. But all 
the world was surprised to see the states-general 
imprison baron de Gortz, in order to gratify the 
king of England, an instance of complaisance 
hardly to be paralleled in history. They even 
appointed the count de Welderen to examine him. 
This formality was only an aggravation of their 
former insult, which being rendered entirely 
abortive, produced no other effect than to cover 
them with confusion. ' Do you know me V says 
Gortz to the count de Welderen. ' Yls, Sir;* 
replies the Dutchman. * Well, then,' says de 
Gortz, * if you do know, you must be sensible 
that I will not speak one word more than I 
please.' The examination was carried no far- 
ther. All the foreign ministers, and especially 
the marquis de Montelon, the Spanish ambassa- 
dor in England, protested against the violence 
offered to the persons of Gortz and Gillembourg. 
The Dutch were inexcusable. They had not 
only violated a most sacred law, by seizing the 
prime minister of the king of Sweden, who had 
formed no plots against them ; but they acted in 
direct opposition to the spirit of that inestimable 
liberty, which hath drawn so many foreigners 
into their country, and is the foundation of all 
their greatness. 



CHARLES XII. 293 

With regard to the king of England, he had 
acted consistently with the strictest principles of 
justice, in imprisoning his enemy. He published, 
in Ids own vindication, the letters of Gortz and 
Gillembourg. which were found among the papers 
of the latter. The king of Sweden was in Scania, 
when he received these printed letters, together 
with the news of the two ministers being impri- 
soned. He asked with a smile, if they had not 
likewise printed his letters ; and gave immediate 
orders for arresting the English resident at Stock- 
holm, with all his family and domestics. The 
Dutch resident was forbid the court, and strictly 
watched in all his motions. Charles, meanwhile, 
neither avowed nor disclaimed the proceedings 
of de Gortz. Too proud to deny a scheme which 
he had once approved, and too wise to acknow- 
ledge a plot which had thus been stifled in its 
birth, he maintained a disdainful silence towards 
England and Holland. 

The czar took a very different course. As his 
name was not expressly mentioned, but only ob- 
scurely hinted at in the papers of Gortz and Gil- 
lembourg, he wrote a long letter to the king of 
England, complimenting him upon the discovery 
of the plot, and assuring him of the most invio- 
lable friendship ; and king George received his 
protestations without believing them, though he 
thought it the most prudent in the present case 
to pretend that he did. A plot contrived by 
private men is annihilated the moment it is dis- 
covered ; but a conspiracy formed by kings, the 
more it is known the stronger it grows. 

The czar arrived at Paris in the month of 
May, 1717, to view the beauties of art and na- 
ture ; but to visit the academies, public libraries, 
the cabinets of the curious, and the royal palaces, 
were not the only ends of his journey. He made a 



49-1 HISTORY OF 

proposal to the duke of Orleans for concluding 
a treaty, which, had it taken place, would have 
completed the greatness of iMuscovy. His design 
was to compromise matters with the king of 
Sweden, who would yield to him some large pro- 
vinces, to deprive the Danes of the empire of 
the Baltic Sea, to weaken the English by a civil 
war, and to make all the trade of the North to 
centre in Russia. He had even some thoughts 
of setting up Stanislaus afresh against Augustus, 
that so the lire being every where kindled, he 
might have it in his power either to quench or 
blow it up, as should be most conducive to his 
interest. With this view he proposed to the re- 
gent of France to act as mediator between Sweden 
and Muscovy, and to make a league offensive 
and defensive with these two crowns, and that of 
Spain. This treaty, seemingly so natural, and 
80 advantageous to the several nations concerned, 
•which would have put the balance of power in 
Europe into their hands, was nevertheless re- 
jected by the duke of Orleans. Nay. at that 
very time, he entered into engagements of a quite 
opposite nature. He made a league with the 
emperor of Germany, and with George, king of 
England. The reasons of stale had so much al- 
tered the views and inclinations of all the princes 
of Europe, that the czar was ready to declare 
against his old ally, Augustus, and to espouse 
the cause of Charles, his mortal enemy ; while 
France, in order to oblige the Germans and the 
English, was going to make war upon the grand- 
son of Lewis XIV. after having so long supported 
him against these very enemies, at a prodigious 
expense of blood and treasure. All that the czar 
could obtain by these indirect measures, was to 
prevail upon the regent to interpose his good 
offices to procure the enlargement of Gortz and 



CHARLES XII. 295 

Gillembourg. He returned to his own dominions 
about the end of June, after having shewn the 
French a sight they had never seen before, an em- 
peror travelling for instruction. But the gene- 
rality of that people were only struck with his 
rude unpolished manners, the result of his bad 
educaiion ; while the legislator, the great man, 
and the creator of a new nation, entirely escaped 
the notice of these superficial observers. 

What the czar sought for in the duke of Or- 
leans, he soon found in cardinal Alberoni, who 
now governed the Spanish councils with unli- 
mited sway. Alberoni desired nothing so much 
as the restoration of the pretender. This he did 
both as he was minister of Spain, which had been 
so ill treated by the English ; as he was a per- 
sonal enemy to the duke of Orleans, who was 
leagued with England against Spain ; and, in 
fine, as he was a priest of that church, for the 
sake of which the pretender's father had so fool-^ 
ishly lost his crown. 

The duke of Orraond, as much beloved in Eng- 
land as the duke of Marlborough was admired, 
had left his country at the accession of king 
George, and retired to Madrid. This nobleman 
was now vested with full powers by the king of 
Spain and the pretender ; and, accompanied by 
one Irnegan, another native of England, a man 
of fine address, and an enterprising spirit, he 
went to meet the czar in his way to Mittau in Cour- 
land. He demanded the princess, Anna Petrow- 
na, the czar's daughter, in marriage for the son 
of James II.* hoping that this alliance would the 

• The truth of all these particulars is confirmed by 
cardinal Alberoni himself, in a letter of thanks which he 
*TOte to the author. M. Norberg, whose ignorance of 
the affairs of Europe can only be equalled by the poverty 
of Itis genius, alleges that the duke of Ormond left £ng- 



296 HISTORY OF 

more strongly attach the czar to the interests of 
that unhappy prince. But this proposal, instead 
of forwarding, retarded, at least for some time, 
the progress of the negotiations. Baron de Gorte, 
among his other projects, had long set apart this 
princess for the duke of Holstein, to whom in 
effect she was soon after married. The moment 
he was informed of the duke of Ormond's pro- 
posal, he became jealous of its success, and em- 
ployed every art to render it abortive. He, as 
well as count Gillembourg, was set at liberty 
in the month of August, the king of Sweden not 
even deigning to offer the least apology to the 
king of England, nor to express the slightest dis- 
approbation of his minister's conduct. 

At the same time, the English resident and all 
his family were released at Stockholm, where 
they had been treated with much more severity 
than Gillembourg had been at London. 

Gortz, being now at liberty, behaved like an 
implacable enemy, prompted not only by the 
powerful motives by which he had been formerly 
actuated, but instigated by a spirit of revenge, on 
account of his late imprisonment. He instantly- 
posted away to the czar, and, by his artful insi- 
nuations, obtained a greater ascendant over that 
prince than ever. He assured him, that in less 
than three months, he would, in conjunction with 
a single plenipotentiary from Russia, remove 
every obstacle that retarded the conclusion of a 
peace with Sweden. Taking a map in his hand, 
which had been drawn by the czar himself, and 
making a line from Wibourg, all the way to the 
Frozen Sea, running along the lake Ladoga, he 
undertook to persuade his master to give up all 

land not upon the accession of George I. but immediately 
after the death of queen Anne ; as if, forsooth, George I, 
had cot been the immediate successor of that queen. 



CHARLES XII. 297 

the country lying to the eastward of that line, 
as well as Carelia, Ingria, and Livonia. He 
then hinted at a proposal of marriage between 
his czarish majesty's daughter and the duke of 
Holstein, flattering the czar with the agreeable 
hopes, that the duke might possibly be prevailed 
upon to yield him up his dominions for an equi- 
valent, by which acquisition he would become a 
member of the empire, and that either himself or 
some of his descendants might one day obtain 
the imperial crown. By these means he gratified 
the ambitious views of the Russian monarch, and 
deprived the pretender of all hopes of marrying 
the czarinian princess, at the same time that he 
opened to him a more tempting project in Eng- 
land, and thus accomplished all his own projects 
at once. 

The czar named the isle of Aland for holding 
the conference between Osterman, his minister 
of state, and baron de Gortz. He desired the 
duke of Ormond to return to Spain, that he might 
not give too great cause of offence to the English, 
with whom he had no intention of coming to an 
open rupture, till he should be ready to make the 
projected invasion. But Irnegan, the duke's con- 
fidant, was allowed to stay at Petersburg, where 
he lived with so much privacy and caution, that 
he never came abroad in the day-time, nor ever 
conversed with any of the czar's ministers, except 
in the disguise of a peasant or Tartar. 

Immediately after the duke of Ormond's de- 
parture, the czar acquainted the king of England 
with the high compliment he had paid him in 
dismissing the greatest man in the pretender's 
faction ; and baron Gortz returned to Sweden, 
flushed with hopes of success. 

Gortz found his master at the head of thirty- 
<ive thousand regular troops, and all the coasts 
N 2 



298 HISTORY OF 

guarded by tne militia. Tbe king wanted nothing 
but money. But the public credit, as well at 
home as abroad, was entirely exhausted. France, 
which had furnished him with some supplies, 
during the last years of Lewis XIV. refused to 
contri'bute any more under the regency of the duke 
of Orleans, who pursued a course very different 
from that of Lewis. Spain promised him some 
remittances : but was not yet in a condition to 
afford any thing considerable. 

De Gortz therefore carried a scheme into exe< 
cution which he had tried before his journey to 
France and Holland. This was to give to cop- 
per the value of silver ; so that a piece of the for- 
mer metal, whose intrinsic value was only a half- 
penny, should, when stamped with the king's 
mark, pass for forty pence ; as the governors of 
besieged towns frequently pay the soldiers and 
citizens in leathern money, in expectation of 
being one day able to reimburse them in real coin. 
This fictitious kind of money, which owes its 
birth to necessity, and can only be rendered cur- 
rent by its being punctually paid in real specie, 
is like bills of exchange, the imaginary value of 
which may easily exceed the solid funds that are 
in a nation. 

These expedients are of great use in a free 
country. They have often saved a republic, but 
seldom, or never, fail to ruin a monarchy ; for, 
as the people soon begin to grow suspicious, the 
minister is obliged to break his word ; the ideal 
money multiplies apace ; private men bury their 
money in the earth ; and the whole machine of 
government falls into a confusion, which is often 
productive of the most pernicious consequences, 
as was but too plainly exemplified in the fate of 
Sweden. 

At first the baron de Gortz issued out his new 



CHARLES Xir. 299 

coin with equal discretion and reserve : but, by 
the rapidity of a motion which he could not re- 
strain, he was soon hurried beyond the limits 
which he had originally prescribed to himself. 
All kinds of goods and provisions having risen to 
an immoderate price, he was obliged to increase 
the quantity of his copper coin. But the more 
it was increased, the less was its value ; and 
Sweden, deluged as it were by this false money, 
set up a general cry against baron de Gortz, 
The people, who always regarded their sovereign 
with a kind of veneration, could not find in their 
hearts to hate him, and therefore made the weight 
of their resentment to fall on a minister, who, 
both as a foreigner and chief director of the 
finances, was doubly exposed to the public odium. 

But what entirely completed his ruin was a 
tax he attempted to impose on the clergy. The 
clergy, who are too apt to join their own cause 
to tbat of the Supreme Being, called him an 
atheist, because he demanded their money. Some 
of the new copper coin being stamped with the 
figures of the heathen gods, they thence took oc- 
casion to call those pieces the gods of baron de 
Gortz. 

To this public odium under which he laboured, 
was added the jealousy of the ministers ; the more 
implacable in their resentment as their power 
was the less. The king's sister, and the prince, 
her husband, dreaded him, as a man attached 
from his birth to the duke of Holstein, and might 
one day be able to place the crown of Sweden on 
his head. In a word, he had incurred the hatred 
of the whole nation, Charles alone excepted ; but 
this general aversion served only to ensure to him 
the friendship of the king, whose maxim it al- 
vavs was, to be the more inflexible the more he 
was contradicted. Accordingly, he now relied 



SOO HISTORY OF 

upon the baron with an almost implicit confi- 
dence ; gave him an absolute power in the inte- 
rior government of the kingdom ; and committed 
to his care whatever related to the negotiations 
with the czar, pressing him above all things to 
hasten the conference that was to be held in the 
island of Aland. 

And, indeed, Gortz had no sooner regulated 
the finances (a work which had hitherto detained 
him at Stockholm) than he set out on his journey 
for the place appointed, in order to finish with 
the czar's minister, the grand scheme he had 
projected. 

The preliminary articles of that alliance, which 
was wholly to have changed the face of aiFairs in 
Europe, were found among de Gortz's papers 
after his death, and were as follow : — 

The czar was<|to keep the whole of Livonia, 
and part of Ingria and Carelia to himself, and 
to restore the rest to Sweden. He was to join 
his eflPorts with those of Charles XII. in order to 
restore Stanislaus to the throne of Poland, and 
to enter that country with eighty thousand Rus- 
sians, to dethrone the very king, in whose de- 
fence he had waged a war of ten years' continu- 
ance. He was to furnish the king of Sweden 
with a number of ships sufficient to transport ten 
thousand Swedes to England, and thirty thousand 
to Germany. The united forces of Peter and 
Charles were to attack the king of England ia 
his German dominions, especially in Bremen and 
Verden ; and were likewise to be employed in 
re-establishing the duke of Holstein, and com- 
pelling the king of Prussia to agree to a treaty, 
bj which he would have been deprived of part 
of those territories which he had seized. From 
tlie time that this alliance was made, Charles as- 
sumed such lofty airs, as if his victorious troops. 



CHARLES XII. SOI 

reinforced by those of the czar, had already car- 
ried all his schemes into execution. He required 
the emperor of Germany, in a peremptory man- 
ner, to fulfil the treaty of Altranstad. but the 
court of Vienna would hardly deign to give an 
answer to the proposal of a prince from whom 
she had nothing to fear. 

The king of Poland did not enjoy the same 
tranquillity ; but saw the clouds gathering all 
around him. The Polish nobility had formed a 
confederacy against him ; and, ever since his re- 
storation, be had perpetually been engaged either 
in wars or treaties with his subjects. The czar, 
■who was now become a dangerous mediator, had 
a hundred galleys near Dantzic. and forty thou- 
sand men on the frontiers of Poland. All the 
North was filled with jealousy and apprehension, 
Flemming, of all men in the world the most apt 
to distrust, and himself the most to be distrusted, 
was the first who suspected the designs of the 
czar and the king of Sweden in favour of Stanis- 
laus. He therefore resolved to have this prince 
seized in the duchy of Deux-Ponts, as James 
Sobieski had formerly been in Silesia. Saissan, 
a Frenchman, one of those restless and enterpris- 
ing spirits, who wander into foreign parts to try 
their fortunes, had lately brought a small number 
of his countrymen, bold and daring like himself, 
into the service of the king of Poland. He im- 
parted a project to Flemming, by which he under- 
took, with the assisiance of thirty French oflicers, 
to seize Stanislaus in his own ppJace, and carry 
him a prisoner to Dresden. The project was 
approved. Enterprises of that nature were not 
then uncommon. Some of those desperate fel- 
lows, who are called bravos in Italy, had per- 
formed the like achievements in the Milanese,, 
dvuing the last war between France and Ger- 



SO^ HISTORY OF 

many : and, even since that time, several Frencli 
refugees in Holland had ventured to penetrate to 
Versailles, in order to carry off the Dauphin, and 
actually had seized the person of the first equerry, 
almost, under the windows of the castle, where 
Lewis XIV. resided. 

Accordingly, Saissan disposed his men and 
post-horses in the best manner he could contrive, 
in order to seize and carry off Stanislaus. But 
the enterprise was discovered the night before it 
was to have been carried into execution. Several 
of the desperadoes saved themselves by flight, 
and the rest were taken prisoners. They had no 
right to expect to be treated as prisoners of war, 
but rather as common robbers. Stanislaus, in- 
stead of punishing them as their crime deserved, 
contented himself with reproaching them with 
their baseness, and even that he did with the 
greatest politeness and humanity. Nay, what 
is more, he gave them money to defray the ex- 
penses of their return to Poland, and, by that act 
of generosity, plainly shewed, that his rival Au- 
gustus had but too much reason to fear him.* 

Meanwhile Charles set out on a second expe- 
dition to Norway, in the month of October, 1718. 
He had taken all his measures with so much pru- 
dence and precaution, that he hoped he should 
be able, in the space of six months, to make him- 
self master, of that kingdom. He rather chose 
to go and conquer rocks amidst ice and snow, in 
the depth of winter, which kills the animals even 

• Here M. Norberg accuses the aathor of treating 
crowned heads with too little respect ; as if this faithful 
account contained in it any thing injurious, or as if \re 
were obliged to relate ought but truth of departed kings. 
What ! does he imagine, that history should resemble a 
s«rmon preached before a sovereign, in which the flatter- 
ing orator loads his royal hearer with unmerited praises ? 



CHARLES XII. 303 

in Sweden, where the cold is less severe, than to 
recover his beautiful provinces in Germany. 
These he expected he should soon be able to re- 
take in consequence of his alliance with the czar , 
and, in any event, it was a much more tempting 
object of ambition to wrest a kingdom from his 
victorious foe. 

At the mouth of the river Tistendall, near the 
bay of Denmark, and between the towns of Ba- 
hus and Anslo, stands Fredericshall, a place of 
great strength and importance, and considered 
as the key of the kingdom : to this town Charles 
laid siege in the month of December. The sol- 
diers, benumbed with cold, were hardly able to 
break the ground, which was so much hardened 
by the frost, tliat it was almost as difiBcult to 
pierce it, as if they had been opening trenches in 
a rock. But nothing could resist the resolution 
and perseverance of the Swedes, while they saw 
their king at their head, and sharing in all their 
labours. Never, indeed, did Charles undergo 
greater fatigues. His constitution, strengthened 
by eighteen years of severe labour, was hardened 
to such a degree, that he slept in the open field 
in Norway in the midst of winter, covered only 
with a cloak, and without doing the least preju- 
dice to his health. Several of the soldiers on 
duty dropt down dead with cold ; and though 
the rest were almost frozen to death, yet as they 
saw their king partaking in all their hardships, 
they durst not utter a single word of complaint. 
Having heard, a little before this expedition, of 
a certain woman in Scania, called Joan Dotter, 
who had lived for several months without any 
other nourishment than water ; he, who had all 
his life studied to inure himself to the worst ex- 
tremes that human nature can support, resolved 
to try how long he could fast without fainting. 



304 HISTORY OF 

Accordingly, he fasted five whole days, without 
either eating or drinking ; and, on the morning 
of the sixth, rode two leagues, and then alighted 
at the tent of the prince of Hesse, his brother- 
in-law, where he eat heartily, without feeling the 
least disorder, either from his long fast of five 
days, or from the plentiful meal which now sue 
ceeded.* 

With such a body of iron, inspired by a soul 
alike enterprising and inflexible in every condi- 
tion, he could not fail to be formidable to alibis 
neighbours. 

On the eleventh of December, being St. 
Andrew's day, he went at nine in the evening to 
view the trenches ; and, not finding the parallel 
so far advanced as be expected, he could not 
help expressing his surprise and displeasure. M. 
Megret, a French engineer, who conducted the 
siege, assured him that the place would be taken 
in eight days. ' Well ! we shall see,' says the 
king, and went on with the engineer to survey 
the works. He stopped at a place where a 
branch of the trenches formed an angle with the 
parallel. He kneeled on the inner talus, and rest- 
ing his elbow on the parapet, continued for some 
time to view the men, who were carrying ou the 
trenches by star-light. 

Circumstances, in their own nature trivial, be- 
come important when they relate to the death of 
such a man as Charles XII. I must therefore 
take upon me to say, that the whole of the con- 
versation, reported by so many writers to have 
passed between the king and Megret, the engi- 
neer, is absolutely false. The following account 

• Norberg alleges, that it was to cure a pain in his 
breast that Charles submitted to this long abstinence. Con- 
fesaor Korberg is surely a most wretched pbvsicain. 



CHARLES XII. 305 

I can affirm, upon the best authority, to be the 
real truth of the matter. 

The king stood with almost the half his body 
exposed to a battery of cannon pointed directly 
against the angle where he was. He was attend- 
ed by two Frenchmen only ; one of whom was 
M. Siquier, his aid-de-camp, a man of courage 
and conduct, who had entered into his service in 
Turkey, and was particularly attached to the 
prince of Hesse ; the other was this engineer. 
The cannon lired upon them with grape-shot, to 
which the king, as he stood behind them, was 
most exposed. A little behind them was count 
Swerin, who commanded the trenches. While 
Sweriu was giving orders to count Posse, a cap- 
tain of the guards and to one Culber, his aid- 
de-camp, Siquier and Megret, saw the king fall 
upon the parapet with a deep sigh. They ran to 
him ; but he was already dead. A ball of half a 
pound had struck him on the right temple, and 
made a hole sufficient to receive three fingers at 
once. His head reclined upon the parapet ; his 
left eye beat in, and the right one entirely beat 
out of the socket. Though he expired the mo- 
ment he received the wound, yet, by a kind of 
instinctive motion, he had grasped the hilt of his 
sword in his hand, and still lay in that posture. 
At sight of this shocking spectacle, Megret, a 
man of a singular turn of mind, and of great in- 
difference of temper, said, 'Come, gentlemen, 
the farce is ended, let us now go to supper.* 
Siquier ran immediately and informed count Swe- 
rin of what had happened. They all agreed to 
conceal the news of his death from the soldiers, 
till such time as the prince of Hesse should be 
acquainted with it. The body was wrapped up 
in a grey cloak. Siquier put his hat and wig on 
the king's head ; and in this condition Charles 



306 HISTORY OF 

was carried, under the name of one captain 
Carlsberg, through the midst of his troops, who 
thus saw their dead king pass them, v/ithoiit ever 
dreaming that it was liis majesty. 

The prince gave instani orders that no one 
should stir out of the camp, and that all the passes 
to Sweden should be strictly guarded, that so 
he migbt have time to take the necessary mea- 
sures for placing the crown on his wife's head, 
and to exclude the duke of Holsteiu, who might 
lay claim to it. 

Thus fell Charles XII. king of Sweden, at the 
age of thirty-six years and a half, after having 
experienced all the grandeur of prosperity, and 
all the hardships of adversity, without being 
either softened by the one, or the least disturbed 
by the other. Almost all his actions, even hose 
of his private life, border on the marvellous. 
Perhaps he was the only man. most certainly he 
was the only king, that ever lived without failings. 
He carried all the virtues of the hero to such an 
excess as render them no less dangerous than 
the opposite vices. His resolution, hardened 
into obstinacy, occasioned his misfortunes in the 
Ukraine, and detained him five years in i'urkey. 
His liberality, degenerating into profusion, ruin- 
ed Sweden. His courage, pushed the length of 
temerity, was the cause of his death : and, during 
the last years of his reign, the means he em- 
ployed to support his authority differed little from 
tyranny. His great qualities, any one of which 
would have been sufficient to immortalize another 
prince, proved pernicious to his country. He 
never was the aggressor ; but, in taking ven- 
geance on those who had injured him, his resent- 
ment got the better of his prudence. He was 
the first man who ever aspired to the title of 
conqueror, without the least desire of enlarging 



CHARLES XII. 307 

bis dominions. His only end in subduing king- 
doms was to have tlie pleasure of giving them 
away. His passion for glory, for war, and re- 
venge, prevented him from being a good poli- 
tician i a quality, without which the world had 
never before seen any one a conqueror. Before 
a battle, and after a victory, he was modest and 
humble ; and after a defeat firm and undaunted. 
Severe to himself as well as to others, he too 
little regarded either his own life and labours, 
or those of his subjects ; an extraordinary rather 
than a great man, and more worthy to be ad- 
mired than imitated. From the history of his life, 
however, succeeding kings may learn, that a quiet 
and happy government is infinitely preferable to 
so much glory. 

Charles XII. was of a tall stature and portly 
figure; he had a fine forehead, large blue eyes, 
full of sweetness, and a handsome nose. But 
the lower part of his face was disagreeable, and 
too often disfigured by a frequent laugh, which 
scarce opened his lips ; and as to hair and beard, 
he had hardly any at all. A profound silence 
reigned at his table. Notwithstanding the in- 
flexible obstinacy of his temper, he always re- 
tained that basbfulness, which goes by the name 
of false modesty. 

He was but little qualified to make a figure in 
cenversation, because, having addicted himself 
entirely to war and action, he was utterly un- 
acquainted with the pleasures of society. Till 
the time of his residence among the Turks, 
which furnished him with a good deal of leisure, 
he had read nothing but Ceesar's Commentaries, 
and the History of Alexander. It is true he had 
wrote some remarks on the art of war, and par- 
ticularly on his own campaigns from 1700 to 
1709. This he owned to the che 7alier de Folard, 



308 HISTORY OF 

but said that the manuscript had been lost in the 
unfortunate battle of Pultowa. Some people 
would make us believe that Charles was a good 
mathematician. That he was possessed of great 
depth and penetration of thought, cannot be de- 
nied ; but the arguments they produce to prove 
his knowledge in mathematics are by no means 
conclusive. He wanted to alter the method of 
counting by tens, and to substitute in its place 
the number of sixty-four, because that number 
contains both a square and a cube, and being di- 
vided by two is reducible to an unit. This, if it 
proves any thing, only shews that he always de- 
lighted in what was difficult and extraordinary. 

With regard to his religion, though the senti- 
ments of a prince ought to have no influence oa 
other men, and though the opinion of a monarch 
so illiterate as Charles, is of little consequence 
in these matters, yet in this, as well as in other 
particulars, we must gratify the curiosity of man- 
kind, who are anxious to know whatever relates 
to a prince of his character. I am informed, by 
the gentleman who hath furnished me with the 
greatest part of the materials which compose this 
history, that Charles XII. was a serious Lu- 
theran till the year 1707. Happening then to 
be in Leipsic, hje there met with a famous philo- 
sopher, M. Leibnitz, a man who thought and 
spoke with equal freedom, and had already in- 
stilled his notions into more princes than one. I 
cannot believe what is commonly reported, that 
Charles Xll. conceived an indifference for Lu- 
theranism from the conversation of this philoso- 
pher, who never had the honour to talk with him 
above a quarter of an hour ; but I have been told 
by M. Fabricius, who lived with him in great fa- 
miliarity for seven years successively, that hav- 
ing seen, during his abode among the Turks, such 



CHARLES XII. 309 

an infinite varietj of religions, he became more 
lax in his principles. This fact is likewise con- 
firmed by Motraye in his voyages. The same 
too is the opinion of the count de Croissy, who 
hath often told me, that of all his old principles, 
Charles retained none but that of absolute pre- 
destination, .a doctrine that favoured his courage, 
and justified his temerity. The czar was of much 
the same way of thinking, with regard to fate 
and religion ; but talked of these subjects more 
frequently, as indeed he did of every thing else 
with his favourites, in a very familiar manner ; 
for he had this advantage over Charles, that he 
was a good philosopher and an eloquent speaker. 

Here I cannot help taking notice of a most un 
charitable suspicion, too readily embraced by the 
•weak and credulous, and too industriously pro- 
pagated by the malicious and ill-natured, to wit, 
that the death of princes is al ways owing to poison 
or assassination. It was then the current report 
in Germany, that M. Siquier was the man who 
killed the king of Sweden. That brave officer 
was long grieved at this injurious aspersion ; 
end, Jif he wns one day talking to me on the sub- 
ject : •! might have killed the king of Sweden,' 
said he, ' but, had I been capable of forming such 
a barbarous resolution, so great was my venera- 
tion for that illustrious hero, that I could not have 
had the courage to carry it into execution.' 

I know, indeed, that Siquier himself gave oc- 
•jasion to this heavy charge, which, even to this 
day, many of the Swedes believe to be well 
founded. He told me, that being seized with a 
violent fever at Stockholm, he cried out that he 
Dad killed the king of Sweden ; and that, in the 
height of his frenzy, he even opened the windoinr, 
and publicly begged pardon for the regicide. 
When he was informed, in the course of his re- 



SIO HISTORY OF 

covery, of what he had said in his illness, he was 
almost ready to die with grief. This anecdote 
I did not choose to publish during his lifetime. I 
saw him a little before he expired, and think I 
can safely affirm, that, far from killing Charles 
XII. he would have suffered a thousand deaths 
to save the life of that hero. Had he actually 
committed such a horrid crime, it mast have 
been to serve some prince, who, no doubt, would 
have liberally rewarded him for such a piece of 
treachery ; but he died in France so extremely 
poor, that he even stood in need of my assist- 
ance. If these reasons are not thought sufficient 
to vindicate his memory, let it be considered, that 
the ball by which Charles fell could not come 
from a pistol, and yet that Siquier had no other 
way to give the fatal blow, than by a pistol con- 
cealed under his garments. 

The king was no sooner dead, than the siege 
of Fredericshall was raised, and a total change 
took place in the governmcnc The Swedes, who 
considered the glory of their sovereign rather as 
a burden than an advantage, applied their whole 
attention towards concluding a peace with their 
enemies, and suppressing that absolute power, 
which baron de Gortz had so much abused to 
their ruin. The states, by a free and voluntary 
choice, elected the sister of Charles XII. for their 
queen, and obliged her, by a solemn act, to re- 
nounce all hereditary right to the crown, that so 
she might hold it by the suffrages of the people. 
She bound herself by the most sacred oaths never 
to attempt the re-establishment of arbitrary 
power ; and at last, sacrificing the love of royalty 
to conjugal affection, yielded the crown to her 
husband, who was chosen king by the states, and 
mounted the throne on the same conditions with 
his royal consort. 



CHARLES XII. 311 

The baron de Gortz was taken Into custody 
immediately after the death of Charles, and 
condemned by the senate of Stockholm to lose his 
head, at the foot of the common gallows ; an act 
of revenge, perhaps, rather than of justice, and 
a cruel insult to the memory of a king whom 
Sweden still admires. 



